


Hogwarts: An Escalation

by Slider (TemporalKnight)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Parahumans Series - Wildbow
Genre: Bodyguard Taylor, F/F, Non-Magical Taylor, Of Course She Fails, Taylor Tries To Avoid Escalating
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:33:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28445454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TemporalKnight/pseuds/Slider
Summary: Taylor Hebert is knocked into Harry Potter's world right before the start of Harry's Fifth Year. Taylor does not meet Harry first, but instead the Greengrasses. Taylor being Taylor, she still endeavors to help the messed up situation. And...she still has her power...Now she just has to resist escalating the heck out of the entire world...
Relationships: Taylor Hebert | Skitter | Weaver/Daphne Greengrass
Comments: 77
Kudos: 236





	1. New World 01

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Yes, this is being broken off into its own story now. Woohoo, I finally have a Harry Potter/Worm Crossover! Second chapter should be posted shortly as well. This one is largely unchanged from my snippets thread. A bit of familiarity with both series is expected as there is only so much info dump that can be done organically. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this new story as Taylor tries to resist her natural urge to escalate the heck out of the Harry Potter universe!

**Hogwarts: An Escalation**

**New World 01**

"I don't really know what this bomb does," Bakuda said, tossing a small, misshapen grenade into the air and catching it. My eyes never left the bouncing death ball, even while my bugs tracked all of my downed teammates and the nearby Wards.

How in the hell had this crazy bitch gotten the drop on all of us? Where were the Protectorate to backup the Wards? Where were the Travelers to back us up? Where was _anyone_? How the freaking _hell_ was _I_ the only one still able to move after Bakuda's opening pain grenade?!

"You know, I think that this was the one I based off of Professor Haywire's tech. But I'm also pretty sure I dialed that up to like a gazillion."

"That's…not a real…word, lady."

For once in your damn life Sophia, shut the fuck up. Shadow Stalker's mask had been knocked loose during Bakuda's initial attack so my tormentor's face was clearly visible. I didn't particularly care if the bitch died, but anything she did to provoke Bakuda would get all of us killed.

Hell, even Tattletale had realized that!

My one Hail Mary was to sic all of the nearby bugs onto Bakuda at once, but she would still get at least one grenade off first. I had to be careful and try to tie her up first. Or at least muck up the gun if I could.

"Shush girl or I'll use something _special_ on you," Bakuda snarled. She ran a hand through her hair and chuckled. "Now where was I? Oh, right! I either turned this into the Dimension Kick or the Blackhole Bomb. Which do you think would be more fun to die by Wardy?"

Vista managed to flop over onto her back and tilted her head just enough to glare at Bakuda. "What does…it even…matter? Both are…death sentences!"

"They're not…for us," Tattletale said, her head lolling towards Bakuda and a scowl marring her face. "We're just…fucking guinea pigs. She made them for…the fucking Endbringers."

"Ooh, we got a smart one!" Bakuda crooned. My stomach dropped. I remembered Tattletale explaining Bakuda's nearly psychotic need to be recognized as the smartest person around and to leave a legacy. If she built this bomb for an Endbringer, she was _going_ to use it here for the test, no matter what. I called all of the bugs I could reach. There wasn't time for subtle and there wasn't time for reinforcements.

"Being smart won't save you. Hey, tall, dark, and mysteriously bleeding to death, you're the Undersider leader right?" Bakuda asked, pointing towards Grue. He moaned. "Thought so. Aegis is still flopping like a fish so you're up! What hand do you all die by? Left or right?"

Grue groaned again.

I shifted so my feet were under me and got my bugs into position. They could handle the grenade and then I could tackle her and get the second one as well as the bandolier. I could do this. I could do this. It was all about timing.

Tattletale caught my eye, her mouth gaped and she tried to gasp something out.

Too late.

"Left it is! Thank you for your sacrifice to the greater good!" Bakuda flicked a switch and lobbed the grenade.

My swarm surged over the nearby cars, the fliers carrying the spiders and their airborne web underneath. I rocketed to my feet at the same time and sprinted towards Bakuda. The web caught the bomb and carried it overhead. I slammed into Bakuda, using my baton to smash her arm against the ground and knock the second bomb away.

"Get off me you fucking bitch!"

"Skitter!" Tattletale shouted. "Toe ring detonators! Toe rings!"

"Got it!" I yelled back. The bugs I had on Bakuda shifted targets, surging from her mask to her boots. My fingers scrambled to unlatch her bandolier and throw it to the side even as she managed to roll us over.

Bakuda grappled my arms and kicked her legs up into my chest, knocking me over her shoulders. It didn't do anything to stop the inevitable tide of bugs invading her footwear, but it did get me flipped over her so that we were lying face-to-face.

"You _will not_ take this moment from me!" she snarled.

A shiver ran up my spine and I tried to pull my arms loose from her grip but she held them like a vice.

"Skitter, _move_!"

"Skitter!"

Tattletale and Vista's twin shouts rang out and I could feel Vista's attempt to warp space behind me. I couldn't move to roll through it though. Not fast enough.

Bakuda had already triggered her bomb.

* * *

The world swirled around me, a kaleidoscope of color, a symphony of a sound…an orchestra of pain. So, so much pain. Fire coursed through my veins, ice tore across my skin and needles laced through my nerves.

The bugs that had been on my body were spasming along with me, their forms running left and right and curling up with their legs twitching.

All at once, just as suddenly as it had begun, it stopped. I crashed from a foot up and slammed to the ground. Struggling to breathe through the pain, I curled into a ball, whimpering.

Bakuda's wail rent through my awareness. I managed to lift my head just enough to see her through the air a few feet away. Right over the edge of a nearby cliff. Her scream cut off abruptly with a distant wet splat.

I rolled over onto my back letting loose a desperate sounding giggle. "That's what you get, bitch."

"What the bloody _hell_?!"

I craned my head towards the feminine exclamation. My mask was cracked leaving one of the lenses blurry, but it was enough to be able to see the girl standing there. She was a teenager like me, maybe 15, blonde, dressed in black robes with an azure trim that set off her gorgeous ice blue eyes…and she was clutching a wavering wooden stick aimed in my direction.

"Wh-who are you? Are you with the Dark Lord?"

"I'm Skitter," I said, the words feeling like sandpaper in my throat. Then I started coughing, coughing hard enough that I was seriously considering if it wouldn't be easier just to hack up a lung and get it over with. By the time the attack subsided I pulled my hands away from my mouth and saw blood on them. "Pretty sure I'm about to pass out. Tell the Undersiders that Bakuda's dead would you? My bugs'll…" I had to pause to gather my strength to keep going and force down the cough that wanted to bubble up again. "My bugs'll make sure of it. She won't get a chance…to set off…the big…bomb."

The blonde stepped closer as my voice got weaker. Her stick stopped shaking quite so violently as she crouched down next to me, reaching out a hand to touch my cheek. "I don't know who those people are."

"Fuck," I murmured. I coughed again, the pain in my chest spreading towards my fingers. "Tell them myself…when I wake up…"

"You need a mediwitch."

"Probably."

The world faded to black as I heard her shouting for her father.

* * *

I could feel people moving around through the mansion I was in thanks to the flies and the spiders. It was a big house, lots of rooms, few people. Must be the rich area of town. My lucky day. As I realized that my swarmsense was back, I slowly started to get awareness of my body back as well.

"Oh, she's regaining consciousness, Lord Greengrass."

Two women, one man, plus the teenage girl from outside were in the room with me. There was a younger girl, maybe 13 pacing in the hallway outside. Down in the kitchen I counted two more children working, though they seemed…misshapen.

This was a strange household.

Wait. The bugs in the room rearranged themselves.

Fucking hell, they had taken off my mask!

"Miss, can you hear me?" the man asked. Awfully polite for someone breaking the Unwritten Rules. "I would like to ask you a few questions if you don't mind."

"Dear, we don't even know if she can understand us yet," the previously silent woman chided.

The blonde teen snorted. "Yes we do. I told you, she sounded American. Hey, we know you're awake, get up!"

"Daphne!"

I smirked as I leveled myself up to a sitting position. The girl's - Daphne's - parents took a step back. The other woman, presumably the medic, just nodded and waved another long stick in my direction. All three of the adults had eyes that were just as unusually bright as Daphne's. Her father's were shining gold and her mother's deep silver, while the medic's were near burning burgundy. What the hell was with people's eyes here?

"She appears fine, though I'm still seeing that tumor in her head. Apparently I can't do anything about that since it just grows back. At least it appears benign, though I've never seen a magical malady like that before. If she consents to more tests let me know."

"I'm _right_ here," I said, arching my eyebrows.

"And you're a minor with an unknown family. I default to the Lord and Lady who found you. Lord Greengrass, make sure she takes her potions, it'll prevent any further complications."

"We will."

"Good. In that event, I'll be off, good day to you all." The woman bowed her head and was gone from the room almost before I could blink.

"Wow, great bedside manner," I muttered. Shaking my head, I looked to the man standing nearby. "Thank you for healing me. Am I to assume that the Truce is in effect, since you took off my mask in the process?"

"Truce?" Lord Greengrass frowned. "I'm unfamiliar with what truce you're referring to, Miss. Perhaps we should start over. I am Cyrus Greengrass, Lord of the Greengrass family. This is my wife, Cassandra, and eldest daughter, Daphne. You are…?"

If the English accent hadn't been enough of a clue, the freely given names were certainly a major flag. I shut my eyes and scowled, clenching my hands. I have to grab hold of the bugs in the mansion and the surrounding grounds to stop them from skittering about in response to my agitation.

"I'm a long way from home. You can call me Skitter, as for why I'm here? That mess at the bottom of your cliff sent me here when one of her bombs went off. She was trying to kill me. Looks like the stupid bitch grabbed the wrong bomb."

"Bomb?" Daphne asked. "You said that outside too. What is that?"

"What is The Bomb?" Cassandra stared at her daughter. At least I wasn't the only one taken aback by the question. "My God, what are they teaching you at that school these days? Daphne, The Bomb is a Muggle contraption. It's exceedingly dangerous, even to magicals."

My eyes narrowed. They were using wooden sticks and the nurse had spoken of potions. Either this was the most insane Myrddin Cult ever…or Bakuda's bomb had sent us further than just England…Magic couldn't be real…could it?

"Does the word Endbringer mean anything to you? Or Parahuman?" I asked. There was a quick and easy way to prove where I was. Quick, easy, and terrifying.

Cyrus frowned as he looked at me. He slowly shook his head. "Considering that you sound as if you are speaking in capital letters, no. No, it does not. I think we should move this conversation to my study. We seem to have quite a bit to discuss, Miss Skitter."

"Yes," I said, my mouth suddenly very dry. "Yes, I think we do."


	2. New World 02

**New World 02**

The Greengrasses' couch was _nice_. Like 'Dad would have to sell his car to buy this couch' nice. Lisa would've been jealous as hell and Alec would've immediately thrown his lot in with them for the promise of one of his own. Brian probably wouldn't have noticed the difference from our usual couch. Which, well that really said something fundamental about Brian - what exactly it said I couldn't quite put my finger on, but it surely said _something_.

How the heck did I get thrown into the backyard of some of the richest people in…Britain? I ground my teeth as I settled even deeper into the couch. Oh if only I could resurrect Bakuda just so I could sting her with a hundred wasps until she told me how the fuck she'd managed to make a teleporting grenade.

A teleporting grenade that I was swiftly growing convinced was the absolute _least_ of my concerns. It didn't matter how insular and isolated you were, you knew about the giant Kaiju monsters that were slowly destroying the world. I could _maybe_ see someone managing to avoid all possible knowledge of parahumans. Somehow. If they basically never met anyone else _ever_ in the past four decades. But even with being completely off the grid, they'd have heard of one of the Endbringers.

And these people were not off the grid by any means. Their home was far too fancy and their art was modern - if from the 90s based on my Dad's taste. To say nothing of their clothes and furniture which you just couldn't make without professional assistance. So these people had access to the outside world. Meaning they had to know about the Endbringers and parahumans.

If they had ever existed here. If Bakuda hadn't been exaggerating when boasting about breaking the walls between worlds.

I was so far beyond fucked.

"Miss Skitty's tea. Would Miss Skitty like sugar?"

"No, thanks. Just the -" the rest of the sentence died in my throat as I stared. One of the 'children' had come up from the kitchen with the tea. I had seen him coming with my bugs. I hadn't paid enough attention. Not enough attention at all. Giant eyes that took up half his face, ears long enough that they actually flopped, a greenish skin tone, a hand-sown uniform of sorts…this was not human. This had never been human. The tea cup shook in my hand as I tried to gather enough air to say something, anything really - and failed utterly.

"Thank you Mipsy, that will be all for the moment."

The being bowed to Cyrus and hurried from the room. As it turned the corner I was finally able to draw a short breath. "I am _so fucked_."

Cyrus chuckled. "My daughter was right, you are indeed an American through and through. Only the Yanks curse quite so freely."

"Considering your daughter's reaction to my arrival, I'd beg to differ," I muttered. Daphne glared at me while her father just laughed more. "So. Just to confirm - because third time's the charm and I need a damn charm if I'm going to make it through this - you don't have any clue what I'm talking about when I mention parahumans, Endbringers, Capes, the Protectorate, the Guild, the CUI, the Thanda, or Scion. Right?"

"Those aren't just Muggle terms," Daphne said, her eyes narrowing.

"I have no idea what a Muggle is, but it sounds like a slur, and I'd really appreciate it if you stop."

"It's not a slur. It's what you are: a non-magical."

"Well we don't actually know that she is a Mu…non-magical, Daphne. Let's not jump to conclusions."

I held two fingers to my forehead muttering several choice words for a moment. Dropping my hands I bit back the first thing I wanted to reply with and forced a smile onto my face. "Okay, you guys believe in magic. That's cool. Perfectly fine. I just got served tea by a wannabe-Hobbit so I probably shouldn't be judging. I don't suppose you can prove that you have magic?"

"Cyrus, we should just call an Obliviator and wash our hands of this," Cassandra said with a heavy sigh. "I'm sorry dear, you seem like a sweet girl, but my daughter is getting ready to go back to school and we still have several things that we need to go over to ensure she is prepared for the year. The political environment has massively changed recently and you are a distraction that we can't afford at the moment."

She raised her stick to point at me. I saw her husband lift his eyebrows as his mouth quirked up into a small grin as he glanced my way, all while Daphne tried to stand and yell.

Scowling, I just grabbed a cloud of bugs and layered them in front of me even as a jet of red light shot out of the end of the wooden stick. Cassandra's eyes opened wide and Daphne gaped, her head snapping to me a second before she plopped back down into her seat, the grin spreading on her face matching her father's. Cyrus raised his hand and saluted me. Then he reached over and plucked the stick from his wife's limp hands.

"Good show, child, good show! Cassy, dear, you should be more aware of your surroundings. Especially now with the Dark Lord on the move again. The insects haven't been reacting normally since this one arrived in our mansion. Tell me, can you actually control them or do you just call and they listen?"

"I have no idea what sort of difference you're implying there," I said. Glaring at Cassandra I clenched my fists, not letting the bugs around me drop in number. "What did she try to do?"

"Stun you. It would have just put you back to sleep until the Obliviators arrived."

"They sound bad."

"Well they _are_ an arm of the government. Take that as you will," he said, chuckling again.

Daphne cocked her head. "They modify memories, usually of Muggles who see magic when they shouldn't. You really have no idea about any of this…But if you have power over insects like that…you're not a witch. You look human, so maybe Veela…no they can't do _that_. I've never heard of a race that can control insects."

"Thanks, at least _someone_ is explaining terms to me," I sighed. With a mental command, I sent the bugs back, neither Daphne nor her father seemed inclined to do anything except talk and I needed to understand what was going on before I could make any moves here. "I'm human."

"You'll find that 'human' encompasses quite a lot in our world." Cyrus rubbed at his chin as he leaned forward. "Yet my daughter has a point. I've never encountered mention of a specific race that could influence insects to that degree. There was no spell involved there, not even a non-verbal one."

I sighed and leaned back in my chair. "Let's entertain the fact that magic is real here for a moment. You can go a long way to convincing me of that if you can repeat what she just did," I said pointing towards Cassandra.

Daphne frowned. "Why? How does being able to do a simple spell prove anything?"

"Because where I'm from almost no one has the exact same power set. If one or both of you can do the exact same thing your mom just did, then magic is probably real, I am stuck in a whole different world, and screwed beyond belief because there's not going to be a Tinker here who can get me home."

Cyrus' small grin fell away completely as he processed that. Taking out his own stick he nodded once to me. "Daphne, I'll wake you in a moment." She grimaced, nodded and turned so that she was angled towards the side of her armchair. The next moment, a red burst shot from his stick, struck the blonde, and she gently slumped to the side. Cyrus waved me forward. "You're free to examine her if you wish, Miss Skitter. As we said, it just puts the target to sleep, no harm is done and another simple spell wakes them."

My lips were a thin line as I stood and moved mechanically to feel for Daphne's pulse. It was strong, beating against my fingers, and her breath warm under my hand when I held it under her nose. Collapsing back into my chair, I dropped my head into my hands as Cyrus shot another pulse of light into Daphne who stirred and pulled herself back up with a quiet grumble.

"Miss Skitter, if you would -"

"Taylor."

"I'm sorry?"

"My name," I mumbled through my hands. "My name is Taylor. I'm trapped in another world because an insane supervillain wanted to punch through dimensions. I'm surrounded by witches and wizards and magic is _real_ here. There are no capes, there are no parahumans. I'm never getting home. There's no point in being Skitter anymore. Bakuda killed her. My name is Taylor."

* * *

It took two more cups of tea from Mipsy - who was apparently a _house_ elf - before I was calm enough to have a civil conversation with the Greengrasses again.

Cassandra was still frosty, but Daphne and Cyrus were sympathetic. Or at least, they were good at faking it. Either way, it was appreciated.

"So you can control _all_ insects nearby?" Daphne asked, licking her lips. "Can you hear and see through them too?"

"Yes to the hearing. I'm still working on the seeing. It…hurts. It's really hard to explain… but, they see differently and my power doesn't want to deal with it. Hearing is hard enough as it is, I'm honestly not sure if I'm ever going to be able to see through my bugs."

"Father!"

"I know, I realize the implications as well, Daphne." Cyrus rubbed at his chin again as he considered me. "Taylor, I believe we can help each other. You have nowhere to go. We could provide shelter and legitimacy for you."

"In exchange for my help," I said with a sigh. "I know how this works. You want to buy me off. Use me to spy on your enemies right?"

"Perhaps sometimes yes, but I was also considering simply asking you to act primarily as a secondary warning system for the mansion."

All three of us snapped our gazes to him as he leaned back, shaking his head and staring at the ceiling. "Things have changed in our society over the past few months. The government doesn't want to admit it, but the balance of power has shifted. A man many know of as the Dark Lord has clawed himself back from the brink. The last time he was around there was, well they called it a civil war but it was more of a terrorist situation, and there were many, _many_ deaths. We tried to stay neutral then with minimal success. I doubt we will be allowed to do so this time. I fear for my family, Taylor. I can't support either side openly. The Light has little strength and their leaders are weak. Their only real power is in an ageing man whose bark is never backed by bite, one who has allowed his problems to persist for decades."

"What about Harry?" Daphne asked, her voice softer than I had heard her throughout the entire conversation.

"He's a figurehead. Dumbledore keeps him coddled and weak, I don't know why and I don't care, for the end result is the same. He's unable to lead his faction - if he even knows it exists."

"That sounds like a pretty huge problem. If the good guys don't fight back, what's the point?" I said. "On my world they fought. They were outnumbered, but they at least _fought_."

"Harry Potter _has_ fought!" Daphne hissed. "He has fought every year for the past four years! I think. The…well the rumors are confusing and no one ever actually knows _exactly_ what's happened except Granger and Weasley, but still - he's fought!"

"Three people doesn't make an army," I said. I looked back to Cyrus and raised an eyebrow. "You don't want to join with the bad guys either, even if only for protection?"

"Their philosophy is abhorrent. While my family is not heavily involved in the affairs of the non-magical side of the world, neither do I wish to see all Muggleborn killed, they are relegated to second-class citizens as it is. Muggles and Muggleborn are important to both the world and our society. The Dark would see our world destroyed without even thinking of the consequences of their actions."

Cassandra scowled. "To say nothing of their fondness for torture, murder, and rape. They are animals, the lot of them."

"Wow. That's…okay that sounds worse than the gangs I'm used to. It's like if you combined the worst aspects of the ABB and the Empire together." I rubbed at my temples and frowned, staring between the two adults. "I don't see how I can help you here though. I'm useful, sure, and I know how to fight. I can be a damn good spy if you're willing to feed me and give me a room, but you've got to have some sort of security system already."

"If you can do anything larger than the house than your range is probably better than our wards," Daphne murmured. "And a lot of the stronger wizards can probably get around our defenses without setting things off. Or they'll set them off, but trap us inside which is almost worse."

"I can control all insects within three, maybe four blocks," I said. "Your house is huge, and no offense, but you look like you're loaded. You guys don't have good defenses for this place?"

Cyrus nodded. "My daughter has the right of it. My family is not as well off as we used to be; the mansion is an artifact of the past, the wards have to be updated with what we currently have available. If they truly came for us, the best I could do would be to get my daughters away, and even that would not have good odds. I would likely have to join them in order to keep my family safe. If you were to keep watch with your little critters…well suddenly we have more time to react and we can run or bring active defenses to bear. The odds shift."

I nodded slowly. "Okay. Say I'm interested in helping. What exactly would I get beyond room and board?"

"Well you can see through our Muggle-repelling wards, so you either have the ability to _use_ magic as well, in which case we can begin to get you training," Cyrus said. "Or as a - what did you call it, parahuman? - you are effectively a near-human magical race, in which case we could sponsor your rights moving forwards."

"We could claim she's a Squib that we're sheltering," Cassandra said. "If we're going to dive into this, we might as well hide her uniqueness."

"Are Squibs unaffected by wards though?" Daphne asked. "That seems to open us to a lot of questions we don't want asked, Mother. Why would we shelter a Squib anyway?"

"What's a Squid?" I asked, raising my hand and arching my eyebrows. "I'm guessing it's not the type that you catch in the ocean."

Cyrus laughed. "Not squid, _Squib_ , with a 'B'. A non-magical person born to magical parents. They're rare, and most of the magical population is rather ashamed of their existence. Many families hide the existence of any Squibs that are born. Claiming you as one publicly would raise eyebrows and draw attention."

"More reason that the Death Eaters are idiots. At least Muggleborn _have_ magic. If they wanted to be consistent they would rally against Squibs too," Daphne muttered.

I couldn't help myself, I started to laugh, laugh hard enough that I had to wrap my arms around my sides. "I'm sorry, this wanna be evil overlord not only calls himself a 'Dark Lord' but he _also_ has 'Death Eaters' as his cult members?! You guys really don't see how absurd this is? Really? It's like a toddler got the name machine and just started randomly hitting buttons!"

Cyrus grunted. "The significance is not lost on me, Taylor. Perhaps look at it a different way. The Dark Lord is strong enough that people _willingly_ take such a ridiculous name as their moniker. And our world has learned to _fear_ that name."

My laughter died as what he was saying started to sink in. There was a sad sort of irony in it. It made sense. Who would be terrified of someone named 'Lung'? Sure Lung meant Dragon but so few people actually _knew_ that, that it didn't really matter. And yet, we were all terrified of a ramped up Lung, because he was that scary.

Their Dark Lord had done the same thing.

"Fuck."

"Indeed."

I scowled, then nodded. "I'll help you. I'll also need papers that prove I belong in this world, both for your magic side, and non-magic side. I want to be able to walk away if I decide that this situation isn't working out for me."

"Of course."

"And I don't want to be shackled to this mansion. It's a nice mansion, but that doesn't mean I don't want to explore the world a bit. I've never been to England before. Long distance travel isn't really a huge thing on my world."

"Understandable. But of course we will want to set up several regular hours that you would be on the property. There are general times that I would expect the Death Eaters to attempt a power play. Should I get word from one of my contacts of a potential imminent threat, I would also expect any potential trip to be cut short."

"I can work with that if you have a quick transport method. You have magic, so I assume you can teleport…somehow. All wizards can teleport in stories. If your magic can do, _anything_ …I'd like to try to figure out a way back home too…I doubt it's possible, but…"

Cyrus sighed. He leaned over to pat my hand. "We can Apparate which is the closest to what you mean, yes. It can be blocked though, so _some_ people would do best not to rely on it." He pointedly glared at Daphne who just rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "As to your situation, I'll inquire with some of my foreign contacts. They may have better luck than the locals. We'll do what we can."

"Oh! We can bring her to Hogwarts! If the three of us check the library there we're bound to find _something_!" Their second daughter shouted, rocketing around the corner of the corridor she had been hiding in since we started talking. She skidded to a stop directly in front of me, grabbing my hands, a wide grin splitting her face nearly in half.

"Astoria," Cassandra groaned, "how long have you been eavesdropping?"

"That's not important!"

"Since the very beginning," I said, smirking. She just rolled her eyes and mouthed 'traitor'.

" _Anyway_ , what's important is that if Taylor went to Hogwarts, we could all search the library for those creepy restricted books. The older kids are _always_ talking about the weird stuff in them. There's gotta be something useful about dimension hopping in them right?"

"That would defeat the purpose of having her here to protect the mansion," Cassandra said, scowling.

Cyrus reached over and took his wife's hand. "Dear…I hadn't considered this, but wouldn't we rather have her protecting the girls? We can run if we need to, they can't - not at Hogwarts."

Daphne tapped her thighs and pursed her lips. "And Astoria's not wrong, Mother. The Slytherins aren't quite as enthusiastic about research as the Ravenclaws, but there have been several who've extolled the wonders of the library. And there's always the rumors of hidden rooms with older tomes in them. That could help the family even more in the long run."

"Wouldn't hidden rooms be _hidden_ , dear?" Cassandra said, rolling her eyes. "Surely if no one's found them by now, they're not going to."

"Well, they didn't have flies and roaches and spiders searching all the little nooks and crannies, did they, Mum?" Astoria crowed. She dropped one of my hands as she turned, triumphantly lifting the other high into the air. My eyebrows rose as I glanced at Cyrus. He appeared to be fighting just as hard as I was not to laugh. "We have a _huge_ advantage now! We can find _all_ of the secrets."

"We'd have to come up with an excuse for her to be there if she can't use magic though," Daphne murmured.

"Actually," Cyrus said, narrowing his eyes. "We…could send her there as a retainer. The practice fell out of favor long before the Dark Lord came into power, but I doubt they have removed the allowments from the rules. And we could even say that Taylor was trying to see if she could learn to utilize magic through a wand in addition to her natural racial traits. It wouldn't even be a lie."

"Are you sure that you're okay with me not being around to warn you of attacks," I asked. "It sounds like this is a full time thing. Is it like a boarding school?"

"Yes, and yes. Between my safety and my daughters, I'd choose my daughters every time," he stated.

"As would I," Cassandra agreed.

"Hogwarts hasn't exactly been the…safest place for the past few years," Daphne said, grimacing. "I'm not going to lie, it would be nice to know that someone is secretly watching over my shoulder if someone - or some _thing_ \- is coming after me. Especially now."

"I feel like I need to ask for a pay raise already if I'm playing secret bodyguard," I said, only half joking. At least my smile was wide and the others were chuckling.

"I'm sure we can come to a suitable arrangement."

I nodded. "Great. Just one question then: what the hell is Hogwarts?"


	3. New World 03

**New World 03**

"That broom has footpads and a seat."

Daphne glanced to the side following my gaze towards the shop we were passing. "Of course it does."

" _Why_ does the cleaning instrument have stirrups, Daphne?" I asked, resisting the urge to gnash my teeth. This whole street made no sense. Why should a broom you could ride have any logic to it. Maybe people used it to get their chores done faster? But it wouldn't be quite so expensive in that case would it? That was a lot of zeros on that price tag.

"How else would you play Quidditch if you couldn't sit on your broom?" she asked. The utter absurdity of the question and the sheer confusion present in her voice pulled a groan from my mouth.

"I hate your country."

"You just haven't seen enough of it yet. You'll _love_ Quidditch. But don't play it. It's a horrid game to play - you're liable to break something every time you get up in the air and if you're lucky it'll only be a limb instead of your head. Only idiots actually _play_. Bloody amazing to _watch_ though. I got to see a pickup game between Viktor Krum and Harry last year; you wouldn't believe the skill both of them had! Neither have any brains though. I mean, really, a Wronski Feint, at the same time, against each other? Complete morons, the both of them."

I just smiled and nodded, completely and utterly lost. Did they seriously follow the standard witch stereotype of riding brooms? And had they actually made it _easier_ to follow the stereotype by giving it a _padded seat_?! "Who won?"

"Krum. Can you imagine the embarrassment if an international star was beaten by a school child? Yes, Krum is still in school as well, I mean, he _was_ , but he was also three years above us. Harry gave him a good run for his money though. It was an excellent showing for the school."

She dragged me away from the broom shop and angled us towards what looked like a library.

"You seem to really like this Harry kid from how much you talk about him."

Her cheeks flushed pink and she avoided looking at me. Shaking her head, she murmured, "It's not like that. The whole of the school alternatively idolizes him and hates him. My peers are colossal fools and follow the masses. I have to keep my head down to survive so I can never show explicit support. He's a good man and he stands up for people when it counts. That's more than I can say for a lot of the people in my own house these days. I like to support him when I can."

I smirked, crossing my arms. "Uh huh."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, scowling.

"The lady doth protest too much."

"How dare you," she snapped. Glaring at me, she crossed her own arms and turned to stare into the window of the shop. I stepped beside her and waited for her to crack. I didn't have to wait long. "Whatever you're thinking you can stop thinking it. It's never going to happen because I'm not interested."

"Sure, Daphne."

"I much prefer a…different sort of company. The sort that's going to cause problems for my father in the future when he needs me to be the official heir for his company. That's actually what I'm looking for here besides school books. I need a…I need a reference book. I could use your help finding it. Or at least getting the other items while I get that one…" She trailed off as I started to blink rapidly. "Father and Mother are staying back a respectable distance at the moment, so I should actually be able to get the bloody thing without him finding out this time. He's only going to let us be alone in the shop for so long before he comes in to make certain we're alright though, so…I need your help to find it fast enough."

"I'm sorry, are you asking me to help you find a book on -"

"Yes," she hissed, cutting me off.

"Aren't you a little young for…"

"It's not for right _now_! But I need to know in order to be prepared and counter any future arguments my father may bring up. Succession is important in pureblood circles. I don't know what it's like in your wo-country but here most people don't care about partners; not until it comes time that an heir is required. _Then_ it's important. I'm the firstborn, ergo, it'll be important for me down the road."

"But because people don't care before then, it's…rare information?"

"Yes."

I thought that over for a moment, then shrugged. "Better than having to share a city with literal Nazis I suppose."

Daphne's head snapped to me, her eyes wide. "Even I know _that_ term. What was _wrong_ with your home?"

"Lots of things," I sighed. "Come on, let's get you your book."

"School books too," she murmured as I led the way inside. There were remarkably few people in the store, but the street was fairly empty as well, so I shouldn't have really been that surprised. What did surprise me was the labels on the books that I skimmed past.

"1001 Ways to Brew Love, Cleaning Charms and Courting Counts, Marian Mandew's Big Book of Opening Your Inner Eye, The Curse-Breaker's Guide to Not Dying…wow these are ridiculously literal…hey, Daphne, is this potion book actually useful?"

Daphne glanced my way and nodded once as she caught sight of the book I held up. "Very. It's advanced, and I don't know if _you_ can actually do anything with it - but if you can't, let me know when we get to Hogwarts. I'll help you with some of the general ones. I'm not a prodigy though, so you may need to ask around a bit. We can try talking to Tracey too, she's always been good with potions."

"Cool, thanks." I slipped _Potions for the Budding Apothecary_ into my bag and moved on.

"Taylor, I've got the first half of the class requirement list. Can you grab the Arithmancy and Defense books? I'm going to go and look for…the other one."

"Got it." I left the current shelf behind and glanced at the labels over the aisles to skip ahead to the parts that seemed most promising. I didn't have to search long to find Daphne's Arithmancy text along with two useful volumes that seemed like they would give me a primer on magic and runes as a whole. With any luck, I might be able to learn some sort of basic runecrafting. If they had runecrafting. These sorts of fantasy worlds always had some type of magical enchanting method using runes or some magic method in the stories…right?

Eh, even if there wasn't it should make for interesting reading; better than Lord of the Flies at least, stupid assigned reading.

The defense textbook was decidedly less eye catching. "What the hell kind of use is this?" I muttered, flipping through the pages. "I don't know anything about this topic and I can tell this is complete garbage. 'You need not learn combat spells because you should instead call for the Aurors if confronted.' Ever heard of _self_ -defense? Isn't that the entire _point_ of a _defense_ book? Idiot."

A boy a few steps away looked up and smiled in my direction, chuckling weakly. "Heh. Wel..Welcome to the new Defense Against the Dark Arts class. As run by the Ministry of Magic," he started, clearly uncomfortable with speaking up, he paused a moment. "It's going to be a nightmare this year," he muttered, looking down and sighing before looking back into her eyes and continuing, "not that it's been any better before, but from what Gran says, this year is going to be particularly bad. And I have OWLs to pass this year too. I'm not sure I'm going to pass, not based on this book," he groaned. "I'd like a nice quiet year for once with an easy instructor, but this isn't really what I was looking for."

I grimaced. The government was messing things up just because they could. Typical. Different world, same bullshit. "Great. Well, at least I won't have to deal with it directly too much. Any idea where I can find a decent self-defense book?"

"I'm not really the best person to ask for that sort of thing. I'm not very good with spells," he mumbled.

"That's fine, I just want a basic overview of the general methods of combat, common spells, that sort of thing. It's always better to be prepared. And," I said, waving my hand to him, "don't sell yourself short. So what if you aren't good with the spells, it just means you need to get creative. Throw potions or something. Instead of trying to take the problem head on, be _smart_ instead, work around the problem. You can get a lot of mileage out of being smart."

The boy rubbed his chin, nodding slowly. "I'll keep that in mind. I'm Neville."

"Taylor." I shook his hand as Daphne walked up behind me, her bag clutched to her chest like a life preserver. "Good to go, Daphne?"

"Yes, I found it. Did you get the…for the love of Merlin. _That's_ our text?"

"Looks like it."

She grimaced. "I never thought I'd miss Lockhart." She glanced at Neville and grimaced. "I don't suppose your grandmother has enough pull to do anything about this, Neville?"

"A few years back, maybe, but not anymore. She's just too old now and too many of her friends have died," he said, shoulders drooping. "It's really just us now."

Daphne sighed. "I'm sorry. Well, we should be going. I'll see you at school."

"Wait, you two know each other?"

"Yes," Daphne nodded. "This is Taylor. She's my new retainer and bodyguard."

His eyes widened as his head turned back to me. "Wow. Really? I didn't think any of the families did that anymore."

"I'm from America," I said, shrugging. "Think of it like an exchange program. I get to see the UK for a bit and I'm paying my way by watching out for the Greengrasses."

Neville's eyes narrowed and he glanced between me and Daphne. He slowly nodded. "So, the Greengrasses are taking things seriously."

"We are." Daphne bumped my side and glanced to the door. "We really do need to go Neville before my father…ah, never mind. If he's going to be this overprotective everywhere we go I swear…"

"At least he's around to care, Daphne," Neville said. I didn't need any sort of magical powers to see the sadness in his smile or to hear the pain in his voice. "That's important. I'll see you at school. It was nice meeting you, Taylor."

As Daphne and I walked to the register, studiously ignoring Cyrus pretending to browse the books at the front of the store I gently elbowed her. "You know, it is actually nice to have a parent that cares enough to be worried. My dad was pretty checked out of - well everything - for a really long time. Now I'm probably never going to see him again at all. Don't be too hard on Cyrus."

Daphne just looked away and grunted.

After we had paid and slipped out of the store I started angling towards the clothing shop only for Daphne to pull me away before we reached it and headed towards the large white, marble building at the end of the street instead. I arched my eyebrows.

"Don't look at me like that. We're going to get you an account first, _then_ we can get you some decent clothes. Those underthings are not fit for proper wear and who knows how long we'll be looking to find something good! Also, we're going to Twilfitt and Tatting's, not some second-hand, ugh, _vendor_."

I rubbed my temple. "These are not _underthings_. They are a T-shirt and jeans and they are completely acceptable. I'm not wearing a robe. I'm just…not."

"That's fine. I'll get you something that we can compromise on."

"And I thought you guys needed to be more frugal?"

"There is a difference between spending frivolously and spending on appearances when they matter. You are my bodyguard, you have to look the part. That matters."

"I hate politics," I grunted.

"Father has made it clear very few people actually _enjoy_ the games," Daphne said chuckling. "Now, watch yourself with the goblins. They are rather, hmm, prickly - they hate everyone. It's best to not take it personally and just to be rude back. Being polite is just seen as a weakness and they'll exploit it for all it's worth if they can. If you're rude, you just get slower service, but they won't think you an easy mark. You can't trust them with anything. And _never_ sign a contract with a goblin until it has been reviewed by a solicitor."

"Okay…"

My bugs had been scoping out the building ever since we had gotten into the Alley and I was…honestly 'impressed' was not a large enough word. The tunnels beneath this place were _enormous_. Just from what I could see already it was larger than my entire range and they didn't seem to have any sign of an ending in any direction. The bank itself was huge as well. Pure marble everywhere I looked, white as snow, broken up only by the wrought iron of the teller stations and the pressed suits of the little goblins sitting at them.

If I had thought house elves were odd, goblins were just straight up ugly. They were essentially a house elf if someone had beaten them with a stick for a few hours then mashed them with a press to get their face looking like a football and stuck some giant elf ears onto it. That wasn't even getting into the hands that ended in nails shaped more like claws and teeth that looked like they could tear a man's throat out in seconds.

Thankfully, we only had to wait for a few minutes before one of the tellers was free and Daphne and I stepped up to his cubicle.

"Daphne Greengrass. Here is my key for verification. I am here to open a vault for my retainer, Taylor Hebert."

The goblin, apparently named Karnok per his nameplate, just glared down at us. "Hand."

I looked to Daphne and she waved a hand to hurry me along. Shrugging I extended my hand to the goblin. He grabbed it and within a second had taken a small knife from the stand next to him and jabbed at my finger.

"Hey! What the fuck!"

"Blood is required to link your key with your vault human. Did you not know this?" The goblin's grin set my blood boiling and the bugs in the tunnels below scurried faster.

"I see why the people here don't like you." A drop of my blood splashed on a black stone below, and the goblin let go. I quickly pulled my hand back, curling it into a fist to prevent any more blood from dripping. "Need any tears too?"

"Gringotts would never say no to tears from a wizard or witch. Here is your key, human. Do take care not to lose it or you will be required to donate even more blood to our cause."

I glared at him. "And how do I deposit or withdraw from this account?"

"Why going down and leaving money in it or taking it out of course. Are you perhaps slow, human?"

"We'll deposit the money _here_ , thank you very much," Daphne cut in. "We have no need to ride the carts."

"That will be a 1% fee."

"We're fine with that." She handed over a bag of money and then held out her hand, palm up. "And we will also take the cheques as well."

"Checks, really?" I murmured.

"Like the Muggle versions," she replied, not taking her eyes from the goblin. "It's so you don't have to come back every time you run out of funds. Most don't bother with it, since it's expensive, but most of us are also too busy with schoolwork to regularly need more money or are able to make frequent trips here if required. You are neither."

Karnok just smirked as he looked down at Daphne from his long nose. "There is a 30 galleon fee for the initiation and each use incurs a surcharge of 10 sickles. In addition, we advise you to remember that each cheque is signed using blood in order to facilitate the withdrawal from your vault."

"Seriously? _Blood_?" I asked, glaring. "I'm sure that's just absolutely required, isn't it?"

"It is, of course, a safety feature." I didn't even have to see the smirk on his face to know it was certainly not a safety feature.

"The excess initiation fee is already included in the initial deposit," Daphne snapped before I could say anything else.

"And we at Gringotts advise you to keep a good track of your finances. The cheque books do not display the balance of your account and should your vault run negative…Gringotts always ensures that its debts are collected. Even from children."

I scowled. "And how much more are you going to charge for a book that _does_ show my balance?"

"We do not offer that service."

"What a fucking racket," I hissed. "Don't they have competition? This is robbery!"

"This is _Gringotts_ , Miss Hebert." Karnok's grin was entirely too satisfied.

Oh if only my friends were _here_ and robbing _this_ bank…

* * *

I was still seething when we exited the bank and walked back down the main street. I barely even noticed the shop that we entered next. The old man staring at me with his head tilted to the side was finally enough to pull me out of my annoyance at the crooks in the 'bank'.

"You are a unique traveler indeed."

I rolled my eyes at the old man. "Yes, I am. Good psychology line there. That fits with pretty much everyone I imagine. What else do you have?"

He smiled as Daphne groaned behind me. "Ah, I can see this will be an interesting experience indeed. Tell me, which hand is your wand hand?"

"Excuse me?"

"She's right handed," Daphne said, hand over her face.

He nodded and promptly whipped out a measuring tape which immediately went to work taking several different measurements as it wrapped itself around me.

"What are you _doing_?" I asked as the tape stretched between my shoulder blades and then snapped back into itself and flew back to the countertop. "Does anyone in this country have any concept of personal space?"

"Taking your measurements, my dear. Now…hmm…I don't think any of my normal wands would suffice for you…perhaps…well it's worth a try…" He vanished behind the counter and I looked to Daphne.

She shrugged. "Mr. Ollivander is a bit odd, but you get used to him. He does fantastic work and is the best wandmaker in Britain."

"The only wandmaker in Britain since my last rival mysteriously died three years back," Ollivander said, popping back up. He extended a rosewood stick in my direction. "Try giving this a wave, child. Cypress, phoenix feather, twelve-and-a-half inches."

I rolled my eyes, but took it from him and waved it around. As I had expected nothing happened. He just nodded and took it back. "Yes, I thought that was a long shot, but wouldn't know until we tried. How about this instead? Blackthorn, dragon heartstring, thirteen inches."

I had barely touched it before he snatched it back. "No, no, that's not going to work either."

"If you're not going to let me try then what's the point?"

"Taylor."

"The point, traveler, is that I need to see what doesn't resonate before I can figure out something that might," Ollivander said leaning over the counter and frowning. "I've never encountered one such as you before. You shouldn't be able to wield a wand, and yet something in me says that there is an aspect of you that has the potential…yet there is no spark when touching these and if phoenix and dragon do nothing for you then a wand may not be the path…yet there is light…So strange. So very, very strange…"

He turned and ran into the back of the shop and I looked at Daphne again. "Do you have any idea what he's talking about?"

"I try not to actually listen when Mr. Ollivander talks. It helps my sanity."

There was a loud crash in the back and a moment later the old man came running out with a smile on his face. "I found it! Try _this_." He held out a dark cherry wooden ring with a black band around the center. "Acacia, thestral hair. My father designed this decades ago, he always said there would come a time it would find its partner. Perhaps that is now."

I eyed the ring for several seconds, before sighing and reaching out.

I didn't feel anything.

But my bugs did.

Every one of my bugs in range froze solid for a full three seconds as a spike of _something_ jammed into my skull. It wasn't…pain exactly. It was more a sense of…connection and…satisfaction…followed by…intrigue…and…

"Oww…" I groaned. Daphne was staring down at me and Mr. Ollivander was hovering just behind her. "Why is the air so hard?"

"Because you're on the floor," Daphne said. She reached out to take my hand and helped pull me up to a sitting position as I held a hand to my forehead. "Are you alright?"

"Not really, but I will be in a minute. I hear this sort of thing happens to parahumans sometimes; at least that's what Lisa said," I mumbled, managing to get my feet under me and glaring at the ring on my finger. I was half tempted to take it off and throw it at Ollivander, but the larger part of…something…was radiating contentment at the feel of the thing.

If ever I had needed confirmation that powers weren't a natural part of us this was probably it right here. Fine, I wouldn't piss off my power, I'd keep the ring.

"I'll take it," I said looking up at Ollivander.

The man nodded solemnly. "That is not a typical wand, miss traveler, nor will it normally act as one. You should be able to learn to use it to shape magic, but it will be difficult. Acacia is not a kind wood to master, yet it produces extraordinary results when used subtly. Thestral hair is a core I do not use myself, though my father did occasionally dabble in it. It is too temperamental when the wielder is not firm of purpose and clear of mind. It is also too associated with peril for my tastes. You have a destiny ahead of you, traveler. Tread lightly and carefully, and your partner will see you through."

"I've recently found I'm not particularly good at walking quietly, but thanks for the warning," I said shaking my head.

Daphne and I paid for my new bling and we headed out of the store. I held it up to the light frowning at the ring as I twisted my hand around to get a better view.

"Well I guess we answered the question about you having magic," Daphne murmured next to me, keeping her voice soft enough that anyone passing by wouldn't overhear.

"No, I don't think we did," I replied. "I'll tell you when we get back to the mansion. Where are we going now?"

"Clothes."

I barely had time to look through the window of the shop before Daphne had dragged me inside. The woman running things smiled and nodded when Daphne started to explain what she was looking for, then her grin widened when I added my own comments about something I would like. Finally, she was returning from the back with a bundle of fabric in her hands which she wrapped around me with a wave of her wand.

"Well, dear? What do you think?"

I stepped over to the mirror doing a bit of a turn to be able to catch sight of everything. My hair had been pulled up into a half ponytail, with a large portion of my bangs hanging loose around the sides of my face. I normally preferred to leave my hair to cascade down my back, but I actually rather liked this look. It went very well with the blazer.

The blazer itself was a very dark charcoal, held closed with three silver buttons and flared at the bottom ending just past my hips. The undershirt was an understated light grey and came complete with a yellow-pinstriped, crimson tie, which looked amazing; though she had given me blue and black ones as well in case I wanted to swap.

The pants matched the blazer and fit so well that there _had_ to be some sort of spellwork involved. The combat boots were also black and the style was subtle enough that it could pass for fancy dress shoes at a short glance. The ensemble was completed with a set of black gloves with sable trim.

"I can honestly say, Ma'am, I don't remember the last time I've liked how I looked before now. This is amazing. Daphne what do you think?"

I turned to the blonde only to see her eyes wide and her mouth hanging slightly open as she stared at me. She barely even seemed to be breathing. I snorted and smirked as I snapped my fingers in front of her face. 'No one would ever look at you twice' my ass. Come look at me now Emma!

"Dappphhhhneeee."

"Wha?! I'm listening! That's - wow - that's - uh - I mean, it's nice. If you like suits. I'm sure we could find something else."

"Oh?" I did a bit of an exaggerated twirl so that I could stare at the back of the outfit in the mirror, conveniently showing off a bit more to the other girl even as the attendant chuckled behind her hand. "Should I keep looking then?"

"No! No, that's, that one's good. Yes. We'll - we'll take that one."

As Daphne tried to recollect her composure enough to get to the register I kept examining my reflection.

"Well, mom, what do you think?" I asked under my breath. "I think you'd be proud of me so far. I'm even making girls swoon now. For my next trick, I get to infiltrate a magic school. Isn't this going to be fun?"


	4. Interlude 1: Daphne

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So in doing a bit of rereading from the original books for this chapter, I discovered that the Black Manor is literally close enough to walk to King's Cross. Walk. Wow. One day I might actually have to fully reread the books with an adult mindset to notice these sorts of details, but…fanfiction has really ruined me for this universe and its myriad issues in canon.

**Interlude 1: Daphne**

Taylor tumbled out of the fireplace right behind Daphne, grumbling and scowling. How she had managed to catch herself on her hands and knees was beyond comprehension, considering the amount of cursing that the American girl was currently doing under breath, yet it apparently left her no worse for wear as she stood - shakily - and brushed the soot off of her suit. Daphne bit her lip and hurriedly glanced to the side, refusing to oogle her bodyguard any further. It was bad enough as it was with that hair and those eyes. Taylor didn't even seem to realize how well her attire fit her…

"Couldn't we just take a damn car?" Taylor asked, stepping beside her.

"Why? Floo travel is fun!" Astoria proclaimed bouncing to halt on Daphne's other side.

"I swear to god, you people are insane," Taylor muttered. "First teleportation that feels like being sucked down a straw and leaves you sick to your stomach, then fireplace travel with constant random fireplaces to get caught on that _also_ leaves you nauseous, then apparently actual flying _brooms_ …Next you'll be telling me you can travel by an old boot or something."

Astoria smirked as she looked at Daphne. "Can I be the one to explain Portkeys? Can I, can I? _Please_!"

"Maybe later, Stori," Daphne chuckled. That would be a highly amusing conversation. "For now just say goodbye and let's get onboard the train."

Astoria rolled her eyes, but twisted on her heels to hug their parents. She whispered something to their father and nodded at their mother's soft words, then was off like a shot towards the Hogwarts Express. Daphne sighed, shaking her head as she watched her sister speed away.

"That girl just does not understand," her father murmured. He glanced down to Daphne and wrapped her in a brief hug - nothing extravagant, just enough to express feeling without showing weakness. "Be sure to watch out for her this year, Daphne."

"I always do, Father. She is rather removed from the majority of things as it is, being in Ravenclaw, but I have my contacts. She'll be fine."

"I would trust that more if I trusted the staff at Hogwarts in general," her mother said. She hugged Daphne as well and kissed her cheek. Both of her parents stepped back and looked to Taylor. "Miss Hebert, I know we didn't get off on the best foot, but I do hope that you will keep up your end of our bargain."

Taylor crossed her arms. "Mrs. Greengrass, I don't break promises unless I have been given good reason to do so. Your husband hasn't provided me with any reason to suspect that there's going to be any problems between us, and I rather like your daughters. Don't screw me over, and I'll make sure both your girls get back to you safe and sound. I promise."

Her father smiled and reached out to clasp Taylor's shoulder. "Thank you. Truly, this is helping more than you know, child. I will keep looking for ways to follow the thread that brought you here. If I make any progress, I'll contact you."

Taylor smiled, letting her hands drop to her sides as her shoulders dropped ever so slightly. "Thank you, Cyrus. I'd…really like to be able to see my dad and my friends again. I didn't know them long, but…it still feels like I'm abandoning them."

"I will do everything I can while you are gone."

"We'll see you for Yule, Mother, Father," Daphne bid farewell. She took Taylor's arm and led the other girl towards the train, threading their way through the crowd of her peers all saying their own goodbyes.

As they got onto the train she started to look through the compartments for her sister when Taylor tapped her on the shoulder. "If you're looking for Astoria, she's about five compartments down, but that one has almost no room in it."

"That girl," Daphne grunted. "I told her that we would be sitting together."

"Is there really much trouble she can get into on a _train_?"

"Two years back Dementors invaded and nearly ate a few of our souls, so - to answer your question - yes, yes there is. Do I think that will happen again this year? Probably not. But it doesn't hurt to be prepared. Let's at least sit close to her compartment."

Taylor was just staring at her. "Please tell me that you're joking."

"What, about Dementors? No, they were really here. I think they were looking for Sirius Black…At least that's what Draco said afterward. I don't really trust anything the little twit says, but that doesn't seem like something he would lie about and his father really would have known."

Taylor rubbed her temples, her gloves matching remarkably well with her hair and forcing Daphne to again look the other way. "I was talking about the 'eating souls' bit. Your 'country' is incredibly messed up."

"There are times where I think the same," Daphne muttered.

Taylor led her into a nearly empty compartment, nodding to the single other occupant as they sat down.

"Hi, you don't mind if we sit here do you?"

The girl looked up, her eyes wide. Only then did Daphne realize that her magazine was upside down. "Hello. Most people don't want to sit with me by choice, they are merely forced to do so by circumstance. You are perfectly welcome to do so either way."

Daphne frowned though she bit her tongue. Something about the girl was familiar, but she couldn't place her finger on it. Taylor's reaction was rather more telling however; she sat up straighter and her shoulders tensed, her eyes narrowing to slits as she scanned the diminutive blonde.

"Well, most people are idiots."

"I would tend to agree, I blame their nargle infestation. It's becoming truly an epidemic at Hogwarts." The girl lowered her paper and held out her hand. "I'm Luna Lovegood."

"Taylor Hebert. It's nice to meet you, Luna."

"Are you a new student?"

"New? Yes. Student? No. I'm working for the Greengrasses."

"Oh, that's interesting! I know Astoria, she's in my House. She tried to yell at some of our housemates once. I had to ask her to stop. She's really quite nice. Are you her sister then?"

Daphne blinked. "Yes, I'm Daphne. Greengrass. Luna Lovegood you say?" Luna…'looney' Luna Lovegood? Astoria had mentioned something about Luna last year…something about the other girls being horrible?

She'd have to talk to Astoria.

Taylor glanced across the aisle towards the other side of the train frowning. "Hey, doesn't this train leave in like, three minutes?"

"Yes," Daphne said. "Why?"

"Because there are about seven people who are just now getting onto the platform with their guardians. They're cutting it a little close, don't you think?"

Luna shrugged. "It's probably the Weasleys. They are very usually quite late. Ginny complains often about how her brothers nearly make her miss the train every year, and how her mother always forgets things. She had quite an amusing story our first year about how her brother stole their father's flying car when he and Harry Potter missed getting onboard the train completely! I almost didn't believe her, until she showed me the Muggle paper proving it!"

Taylor turned to stare at Daphne. "Flying cars? You have _flying cars_ and we had to deal with the spinning fire grate of death?"

Daphne crossed her arms and scowled. "Flying cars are an illegal modification of Muggle technology. I have no idea how Mr. Weasley managed to get that through the loopholes in muggle artifact law, but seeing as how he runs the department I'm sure he knows the law far better than my family does. And there is nothing wrong with Floo travel! You just need practice."

"Practice my ass, that's just a stupid way to get from place to place. It's a dirty method too."

The train lurched forward and they lapsed into a mostly comfortable silence; until the compartment door slid open again, Neville at the front of the small group behind him. He glanced around and lifted his hand in a small wave which Daphne returned with a nod while Taylor waved back.

"Hi, Daphne, Taylor. It's nice to see you again. Do you guys mind if we share? There's not really any other available seats."

Daphne snorted. "Well that's what happens when you're slow getting to the train. Come in, Longbottom, and bring your friends. I haven't started biting just because we're going back to school again."

Taylor frowned as she looked at her and Daphne shrugged while Neville, Ginny Weasley and Harry Potter sat down around them. "I'm in Slytherin, Taylor. They're in Gryffindor. Our two Houses don't really get along well in school."

"You have cliques separated by your dorms? That seems…You know I probably shouldn't say anything. We had three different gangs in my school, besides the popular girls, the track team, the stoners, the nerds…Maybe it would've been easier if it was all just separated by where we slept."

Ginny leaned forward, openly staring at Taylor. "Who _are_ you? I haven't seen you at school before. And where are your robes? What are you _wearing_?"

"It's a suit, Ginny," Harry said. He was trying to not be obvious about staring at Taylor at least. Daphne had to push down her annoyance to avoid glaring at them both. "Are we allowed to wear suits now? I've gotten used to the robes, but I think the Dursleys would put up less of a fuss about things if I told them I could wear a suit…"

"I'm not really a student," Taylor said, shaking her head. "I'm just working for the Greengrasses. This seemed like the better uniform for a bodyguard and wearing a robe is, well, weird. So I got a suit."

Neville opened his mouth to say something, but Ginny beat him to it. "A _bodyguard_? Why would they need a bodyguard?"

Harry's head had snapped to Daphne after Taylor's declaration. Daphne inclined her head ever so slightly and Harry's lips parted. "You believe me?" he gasped.

Daphne groaned. "Shout it from the hills, why don't you? Please don't spread that around, Potter. There is only so much that Slytherin will tolerate. A bodyguard, I can get away with. Loudly proclaiming that my family does not support the Ministry and is preparing for the return of You-Know-Who, is liable to set a target on back. So do me a favor and keep quiet please."

His eyes narrowed. "I remember you wearing one of Malfoy's buttons last year."

"Yes? What has supporting Diggory as the real Hogwarts Champion got to do with anything? You yourself always said that he deserved the slot and that you had had no desire to actually compete."

"They outright insulted me."

"Wait, what?!" Daphne leapt up to her trunk, flipped it open and rummaged around for a moment before exclaiming victory and pulling out her old badge. Her eyes narrowed and her lips curled into a silent snarl as she read the changed words on it.

_Support Ced-otter stinks!_

"Oh that little! I thought this was a simple Support Cedric badge!" Daphne threw the badge to the floor and dropped into her seat crossing her arms. "I should have known better than to buy a five knut piece off of _Malfoy_ of all people."

Harry leaned over and snorted as he looked at the button. "It looks like his charm work wasn't really up to snuff in the end."

"He _paid_ for this to be made. What a complete waste of money." Daphne growled. "If you're going to pay for a petty insult at least do it _right_. Imbecile. I'll have to tell Tracey to get rid of her badge. I don't even remember if she bought one too."

"You guys have a falling out over the summer? I don't see her here at all," Ginny said, leaning back.

"So what?" Taylor asked. She looked between all of them. "Does everyone have to sit with their entire social circle on this train? We're going to a boarding school right? We're all going to be living together for months. Cool down, get to know other people, jeez."

Luna chuckled, lowering her magazine to her lap again. "You are going to be quite a lot of fun, Taylor. You don't care for careful politics at all do you?"

Taylor's eyebrows arched. "We're fifteen and sixteen. I don't think we should be worrying about politics right now." The others likely missed how her hands were clenched into fists, but Daphne did not. They also probably didn't notice how thin the line of her mouth was, but Daphne did not. What was this girl running away from?

"But you're a fifteen-year-old bodyguard," Neville questioned.

"Sixteen," Taylor murmured.

She was saved from responding further when Luna shrugged and picked her magazine back up. "I'm fourteen."

The group fell into an uneasy silence for the next few minutes. Taylor glanced outwards and kept watching the passing landscape on the other side of the window, a soft smile on her face at the mountains and green plains below. It was peaceful. Of course it couldn't last.

"Neville, what is that?"

"A _mimbulus mimbletonia_ ," he proclaimed. Daphne looked across the compartment, taking in the small, squirming little plant in his hands. It was quite ugly truth-be-told looking like nothing so much as a pile of pulsating green blobs stacked on top of each other. "My uncle got it for me as a gift. It has a great defense mechanism too! Here, can you hold Trevor?"

"I got him," Taylor said, extending her hands as Ginny grimaced.

Neville handed off the toad, who sat quietly in Taylor's palm. The two stared at each other as Taylor lifted him to her face, a small frown present on her features.

"Thanks, now watch this, everyone!" He held the cactus thing further away from him and raised a quill to poke at it. Within moments the plant had contracted and squirted foul smelling liquid over nearly everything in the compartment.

"Oh, gross," Taylor murmured. "Neville, that's awesome, really, but next time, maybe do it outside?"

"Yeah, agreed," Harry said, trying to wipe the gunk off of his glasses.

Daphne bit back the comment she desperately wanted to make and just took out her wand instead. " _Scourgify._ " Recasting it a few more times around the compartment saw, thankfully, all of the liquid quickly vanished.

Taylor looked away from the toad and stared at Daphne's wand. "Suddenly I find myself jealous of you so _very_ much. Can you cook with that thing too?"

"My mother can."

Harry frowned as he looked at Taylor. "You said that like you don't have a wand of your own."

"I don't," Taylor stated, shrugging. Trevor hopped onto her shoulder and she leaned back. "I'm not a witch, I'm a -"

"You're a Squib," Ginny blurted out, her eyes wide and her hand covering her mouth. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry. And you're going to be completely surrounded by magic now for _months_! This is going to be bloody awful for you! Why did you ever agree to your job?! How are you going to cope? I can't even imagine being in that position!"

Taylor grunted. "So this is what you meant about people being racist against Squibs huh?"

"That's mild, she's actually being somewhat kind. Draco would be far worse and far more condescending," Daphne said.

"Okay, first off, wow, Ginny right? It makes it so much worse when you pity someone for being different. Just accept them for who they are, don't try to rub it in their face that they're different or odd. Didn't your mother teach you any manners at all?" Taylor said. She shook her head and Trevor echoed her movement. Neville stared at his pet, eyes wide. "Secondly, I'm not a Squib. I'm a parahuman - a magical race from America. There's not many of us around. I don't use spells like you guys - at least not that I know of. What I can do is; let's just go with 'different'. I don't have much experience with the British Wizarding community so I'm learning a lot of things as I go."

Neville nodded. "Gran always said that the Greengrasses were good about finding sources overseas."

"Dumbledore let you come to Hogwarts without being a witch?" Harry asked.

"Dumbledore doesn't control what I do," Taylor said. "The Greengrasses hired me to look after their daughters. All I need is a bed and food. Hell I don't even really need food, I can get that on my own if I need to. I just need a place to sleep, really. If the Headmaster wants to be a jerk, I'll be an asshole right back. I'm sure there's a law somewhere that would support me."

Luna nodded behind her magazine. Daphne was forced to reassess the little Ravenclaw, just how close attention had the girl been paying to the conversation? "There are several that would be able to back your position. The Rotfang Conspiracy has not toppled all of the old laws yet and many of the new laws also have clauses that would cement the place of retainers at Hogwarts. Daddy said it was so that the Illuminati could gain a foothold in the school, but I never saw any evidence of that."

Luna had _definitely_ been paying attention. She had not earned her nickname at all. This girl was no more insane than Daphne was. Luna was just very good at obfuscation. _Very_ good.

She would have done well in Slytherin.

The compartment door slid open yet again, and Daphne had to bite off a groan as she saw Draco and his sycophants standing outside, leering at them. Perfect. She had been hoping to avoid this until they were at least at school. But no, and worse, he saw her with three Gryffindors. Ah well, she was always going to be at odds with him this year anyway.

"Greengrass? You're…Come on Greengrass, stop slumming with these losers. We have room in our compartment for a high-class… lady, such as yourself." His eyes grazing over her left unpleasant shivers down her back.

Daphne didn't growl. She was proud of herself for that. "I am quite comfortable here, thank you, Malfoy. I don't intend to debase myself by listening to Parkinson's shrill recounting of her vapid summer holiday. I'll have to hear it on repeat for weeks soon enough. It's not like she has anything better to discuss, until you do something else 'noteworthy' for her to harp on about instead."

Malfoy's scowl was almost worthy of note. The sad thing was that he actually seemed to mean it instead of simply playing it up. "You're sitting with the enemy."

"I am sitting with my retainer. The others sat with _us_. As it is, we are nearly evenly represented. Now run along unless Daddy has something that he needed you to pass along. We all know that you don't have much to say yourself."

Malfoy lips curled, as Taylor muffled a chuckle. Trevor ribbitted just as Malfoy opened his mouth to speak. He snapped it closed again and glared at the toad sitting on Taylor's shoulder. She smirked and raised a hand in a wave.

"Hi. I'm the retainer. If you don't have anything of value to talk about, this compartment is a bit tight. Can we talk when we get to the school instead?"

He opened his mouth again and this time he ended up choking and sputtering an instant later. He clutched at his throat and backed away, Crabbe and Goyle grabbing for his shoulders. As soon as he was clear of the door, Ginny slammed it shut and Harry sent a locking spell towards it. Neville stared at Taylor.

"What just happened?"

"Looked like he swallowed a fly to me. Would you like your toad back?"

Neville nodded and Taylor handed him across. Trevor ribbitted once again and Neville, looked up, meeting Taylor's eyes. "He's never been this well behaved before…"

"I have a way with small critters. That's a very nice toad you have, Neville. Take care of him, he seems to like you," Taylor said, smiling. She turned, lowered her chin into her gloved hand and went back to staring out the window. "Oh and you might want to get a bell. He likes to play hide-and-seek."

Daphne felt a smile spreading on her face as she leaned back in her seat. This arrangement was already showing profit. A pleasant companion to talk to, an easy way to shut up Draco, possible expansion of her social circle…and all of this before she'd even reached Hogwarts! Things were going _swell_!

The fact that Taylor looked _excellent_ in a suit had nothing to do with anything at all.


	5. New School 01

**New School 01**

As we got off the train I couldn't stop myself from pulling up short and staring wide eyed across the gigantic lake near the platform. Just on the other side there was a genuine medieval castle, complete with turrets, and fields, and fires in the windows, and parapets, and giants hoops around the corner in -

I blinked and leaned forward, staring at what looked to be giant hoops thrusting into the air. "Hey, Astoria?" I said, snagging the arm of the younger Greengrass sister as she nearly sprinted past me. She jerked to a halt as her friends barreled on. "Why are there wooden hoops in midair behind the _castle_?"

One of Astoria's friends had stopped and turned back, looking at us, pointing back and forth with a frown. "How did you - When did you - You were looking towards Hogwarts! You're _still_ towards Hogwarts!"

"She has really good peripheral vision," Astoria said, rolling her eyes.

"That's not -"

"Taylor, those are the Quidditch hoops. You can see them from here?"

I nodded. "Barely. Those are really tall. Jeez, no wonder Daphne said not to play that game."

"Oh you are going to _love_ Quidditch. Our Seeker is Cho Chang this year. She's pretty good, leagues better than Daphne's House. They have Draco. He's…okay. Harry is where it's at though. I'll take you to watch a game between him and - hey, Sue! Who's the new Seeker with Hufflepuff this year?"

A redhead stopped and looked our way. I scowled, glancing away from the hoops towards my nonexistent chest. Maybe that girl cheated with magic? Nobody was that lucky without being blonde. "Astoria right? Uh, I think it might be Lina Tande this year. She was talking about getting a new broom over the summer and after Cedric…"

"Right, yeah, sore subject. Sorry, I should've thought of that." The redhead waved her off before she continued on her original path. Astoria looked back at me. "I don't know much about Lina, but she was really good on her old Cleansweep. If she's upgraded then she might be a challenge. And who knows, maybe they'll have Snape ref again and we can even see the Gryffindors deal with more blatant cheating! That's always fun, 'cause they _still_ win. I have a standing 5 galleon bet on him eating his robes afterwards too."

"Astoria! Carriage! Now!" Daphne growled, stomping up and grabbing her sister's arm to haul her to the side. I took one last look at the castle, a small smile on my face as the shorter kids piled into boats nearby and started across the lake.

Tromping up behind them, I moved to the front to pat the flanks of the skeletal horse thing while Daphne threw her sister into the carriage. Luna and Harry were there as well, Luna smiling wistfully at the creature, while Harry was just staring wide-eyed.

"Hey, buddy," I murmured. "You're not as scary as you look are you?" The horse whinnied and leaned into my hand. Its skin was leathery, but not unpleasant. Just odd.

"You can see them," Harry whispered.

"The horses?" I asked. I gave the big guy one more pat and turned to face him. "Are we not supposed to be able to see them?"

"They weren't pulling the carriages before," Harry murmured, his eyes not lifting from the creatures. "None of my friends can see them."

"You're wrong, Harry, they've always been here. Shall we go?" Luna said. As she walked past me, her smile dropped and her shoulders drooped. "I'm sorry for your loss," she whispered.

I frowned, but didn't say anything as the three of us got into the carriage with Daphne, Astoria, and Neville. Ginny had moved to one further up the line with people I assumed were her brothers from how they were talking to her.

As the horses started moving us forward, I inclined my head towards Luna. Her fake smile was back in full force. It didn't reach her eyes. She was still better at pretending than I had ever been.

"What did you mean? Outside - about my loss."

Daphne frowned as she stared between us, eyes narrowed. Luna's jaw tightened almost imperceptibly. If I hadn't been watching for it I might have missed it. The silver-haired girl shrugged, pointing over my shoulder towards the front of the carriage. "Just the thestrals. Spindlesprouts can be found by anyone who walks around the right type of tree three times. Thestrals are different. You have to see death and understand it. That's all."

The bugs in the woods stopped what they were doing as they all sat down at once. A moment later they resumed their chirping and skitterings and weavings. All the while, I stayed still, staring at Luna, barely doing more than breathing. She met my gaze moment for moment.

"I'm sorry for your loss too," I murmured.

Luna reached over to pat my hand. "Thank you."

Daphne had shifted her gaze from the two of us to the leathery horses just visible through the window of the cabin. "These carriages…they're towed by thestrals?"

"Oh yes. They have been ever since I arrived at the school at least. They're really quite lovely."

"The one I was petting did seem nice. I wouldn't want to own a skeleton horse, but, you know, it's still a cool horse with wings. And if I don't get to see a unicorn, then I've still seen a cool horse with _wings_ ," I said, my voice soft.

Harry was staring at his hands and he whispered, "Cedric." Shaking himself, he set his mouth into a thin line. "Thank you for the information, Luna. It's nice to know I've not gone crazy."

Luna chuckled. "I believe we're all a bit mad, don't you? The world is much more fun that way."

"She's not wrong," Neville commented.

As the carriages rolled to a halt, we all got out and headed towards the gigantic doors into the castle. The whole thing was even more impressive up close; the damned castle was simply _massive_. Trying to map the rooms was starting to give me a headache with some of the looping areas that my bugs were running into in places. There were actual space-warping effects on corridors and rooms. _Actual space-warping_! I knew that people like Vista could do that with their powers, but these people just did it with a few shouted words and then let the effect stay put for however long they wanted!

And the _ceiling_ of this cathedral room!

"If my mom could have seen this," I murmured, my head craned all the way back as I stared up at the reflection of the cloudy skies above. It was like someone had made the roof out of glass yet I _knew_ there were floors above it. The candles floating above the tables added mystery to the illusion. It was…beautiful.

"Hey watch where you're - " The hard-faced brunette that had stopped in front of me snapped. She cut off with a frown as I side-stepped around her without even sparing her a glance.

"Daphne, you didn't mention that ceiling. Is it always like that or just for the first day back?"

"The ceiling of the Great Hall is enchanted to always reflect the sky above it." I glanced to the side finding the tall, prim woman in a severe bun as she stopped next to me. "Miss Hebert, I presume?"

"That's right."

"Miss? That's a _girl_?" The whispers from the students just behind me were quiet enough that this teacher probably couldn't hear them. Not that it would've likely mattered. It never had before and I wasn't even a student here.

Just because I wasn't as endowed as Redhead didn't mean I was okay with being mistaken for a guy though. Maybe the suit had been a mistake.

No, screw it, I _liked_ the suit…Daphne liked the suit too, and that - surprisingly - made me feel good. I was not going to give that up just because people were idiots.

I set the nearby spiders to weaving intricate patterns in their webs to bleed off some of my annoyance as I met the teacher's gaze. "Can I help you, Ma'am?"

"No. I am here to help you in point of fact. I am Professor McGonagall, the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts." I clamped down on my snort of derision at that statement. She was at least introducing herself, that was already leagues better than the Vice Principal at Winslow had ever done. Some days I doubted that the man even existed. "Please, follow me for a moment." She turned on her heel and quickly strode away, leading the two of to a small section just off the main room.

"Lord Greengrass advised us you would be arriving, Miss Hebert," McGonagall said. "I need to know where you intend to stay, however, before we are able to finish arrangements. As I'm sure the Greengrass sisters have mentioned, they are not in the same House here at Hogwarts and it is not feasible for you to transition between both at regular intervals."

I peeked at Daphne through my bugs and Trevor the Toad - that I could actually get a sense of things through Neville's pet was…it was still throwing me for a loop. Not important. I could deal with it later. I needed to focus. Daphne was sitting at the far right table in a sea of robes trimmed in green. A few were smiling, but the vast majority were either completely impassive or glaring across at the other tables. Daphne herself was talking with a brunette witch - one of the few happy people - though both were sitting fairly apart from the others nearby. Astoria, by contrast, was nearly oblivious to everything around her as she continued chatting with her friends at a table with blue-trimmed robes. She was near Luna and both were laughing at something that an older girl had mentioned about knives and the Silk Road. Turning back to the teacher, I tapped my hand on my thigh.

"Miss Hebert?"

"Slytherin is supposed to be more dangerous right?"

McGonagall sighed, her height nearly dropping in half as she slumped. "Hogwarts is _supposed_ to be safe wherever you are. But, yes, in the current climate, you would be correct."

"I'll sleep there then." Not that I wouldn't still be able to keep an eye on Astoria easily enough. I might not be able to see the entire castle, but I had already found three out of four dorms plus what looked like some of the teachers' rooms. They were all well within my range. Staying closer to Daphne for reaction time was smarter, but I could watch out for Astoria without any worries, especially if I built up a swarm and kept them near her.

"I'll have your things moved down there. Is there anything you require immediately?"

"I don't suppose you happen to have any books on magical creatures?" I asked. "I didn't have much time to do any real shopping and the books at Diagon Alley were, well, lacking in what I'm looking for."

McGonagall frowned. "Our Care of Magical Creatures teacher is away on assignment for the moment, but when he returns he would be the best person to ask. What sort of creatures are you seeking knowledge of?"

"Anything and everything really, but primarily the small ones. Bugs, pests, arthropods…amphibians too now I guess."

"I will…see what I have available before Professor Hagrid returns. You can also try asking Madam Pince in the library; I will make sure she is aware that you are allowed to borrow books. No need to let your mind go to waste while you are here on assignment." She paused and raked her eyes over me. "Out of curiosity, where does your interest stem from?"

"Let's call it a hobby."

"An oddly…general hobby."

"Professor McGonagall, I'm just trying to do my job, the same as you. Are we done?"

A small smirk ghosted across her lips so quickly I almost mistook it for an illusion. "Nearly, Miss Hebert. There are a few quick ground rules for you. You are, of course, free to explore the castle, excepting after curfew, just like everyone else. Unless you wish to join a patrol with one of the Prefects, in which case you are allowed to do so and continue to explore with the patrol after nightfall. As you are not here as a student, you may travel to Hogsmeade whenever you wish. If you want to attend the classes you may - I highly recommend this. I do not know your specific circumstances as I am unfamiliar with parahumans, however your patron advised that there is a chance you may be able to perform magic after a fashion. As such, these courses would at least teach you the theory."

"Okay."

"Lastly, the Headmaster wishes to see you after the feast."

I nodded and we parted ways. She went to the line of kids that had come from the boats while I took a seat next to Daphne. The brunette leaned around, a wide smirk on her face, but she didn't have a chance to say anything before all of our attention was drawn towards the front of the room. Apparently I had missed something while talking with Professor McGonagall. Well, 'missed'. I had heard the old hat sing…I just…Hadn't really _believed_ it…

But it was talking again. And I couldn't ignore my eyes like I could ignore my bugs.

" _Gryffindor!_ "

"It actually talks," I said, rubbing at my eyes.

"Well it would be a rather poor Sorting Hat if it couldn't sort people," Daphne commented.

" _Ravenclaw!_ "

"Yeah but…it's a _hat_!"

The brunette laughed as she leaned around Daphne again. "From what I heard, you got to experience Floo travel for the first time earlier today. You're surprised about a talking hat, but not with a magical fireplace that can spit you out basically anywhere?"

" _Ravenclaw!_ "

"It's a _hat_."

"It's a shame I didn't get to show you my mother's mirror," Daphne said. "That gives fashion advice. I don't tend to agree with its advice, but sometimes it is decent in its choices."

" _Slytherin!_ "

The table around me erupted in cheers as a terrified looking kid ran up to an open seat near the end.

"It's a _hat_ ," I pleaded. No one listened to me.

* * *

Thankfully the Sorting didn't take too long and the meal afterwards was…amazing. The food would probably have bankrupted Dad and I for at least three months back home. If all of the meals were like this…Ugh I was going to have to start working out more regularly again. If I wasn't going to be going on regular patrols anymore to keep my weight down, I was going to wind up getting my stupid pudge back.

Not. Happening. Running every morning: that was the game plan. Every. Morning.

Instead of following the Slytherins down to their dorms once the food was gone, I followed Professor McGonagall and a rather thin man, who had no idea what proper hair care was, through a gargoyle and onto a set of rotating stairs.

The talking gargoyle I could deal with. Paintings were talking all over this castle, and apparently _hats_ talked here. A gargoyle was nothing compared to that. An escalator that looked like spiral stairs was…weird, but also not that bad.

This guy though, this guy annoyed me. I didn't care about my looks at Winslow - there had been no point. I was boring at best, and if I had tried to dress myself up the Trio would have just destroyed my outfit or my makeup. But I _had_ made sure that my _hair_ was always in good condition. It had basically been the _only_ thing I was proud of before I got here. This Professor Snape person…he was a personal affront to what little femininity I had.

And none of that made any sense. Oh god. I swallowed as the bugs in the castle started to scurry. I was turning into Emma. The smallest bit of confidence and suddenly I was a critic and…

No wonder I had lost my friend.

"Good evening, Miss Hebert. I am Professor Dumbledore, the Headmaster of this school, and it is a pleasure to meet you."

The old man behind the desk in front of us was…ancient was probably a decent word. He wasn't frail and he exuded power just like Armsmaster had, but he was also _old_. There was no way this man was going to be joining me on my runs and if he was capable of lasting for more than 15 minutes in a fight I'd give him 50 bucks.

He probably wouldn't need 15 minutes though, not with the way the hairs on the back of my neck were standing on end as I looked at him.

"It's nice to meet you as well, Sir. Professor McGonagall said you wished to see me?"

"Indeed. Please, sit, sit. Your bones may still be young but no need to stress them unduly." He gestured toward the chair in front of him and I took the proffered seat as the other two teachers moved to take their own chairs. "There has not been a retainer in Hogwarts for many years. I am curious as to why the Greengrasses thought it prudent to obtain your services."

"That would be a question better asked of them, Professor Dumbledore," I said. The bugs outside the office scurried about faster as I met his gaze. "I was hired to do a job, I don't particularly need the nitty gritty details." As if that wasn't a bald faced lie right there…Lisa would've seen through it in an instant. Lisa…fuck.

Lisa probably _had_ seen through me in an instant hadn't she? And yet she'd still let me stay on the team…

God, I shouldn't miss the Undersiders. I _shouldn't_.

"I doubt that either of us truly believe that, Miss Hebert."

"Well, what you should believe is that it's not my place to speak about what my employer intends," I said. "Except to keep my charges safe."

"You are barely older than them," Snape stated, his hands clasped. "By Greengrass' own admission, you are no witch. What can you possibly do to protect those two?"

I bared my teeth in parody of a smile. "That's a secret. I am _very_ effective though and I can see quite a lot."

Dumbledore just smiled. "Indeed?" His eyes…twinkled, my ring warmed under my glove, then his eyes widened, then he jerked back, a trickle of blood dripping from his nose as he gasped. Snape stood and quickly moved to his side while I just frowned.

"Are you alright, Sir?"

"Perf-perfectly f-fine, my dear," Dumbledore said, his voice cracking on the last word.

McGonagall remained steady in her seat the entire time, politely sipping at her tea. That was…interesting. Had the Headmaster tried something and I'd missed it? Something that she had expected and tacitly disagreed with? Did my power protect me?

 _Good power_. I mentally whispered.

My ring briefly warmed again.

Yup, I had a clingy superpower - one with magic - that could apparently hear my thoughts. Ooookkkay then. There would be time to deal with that later. Much later. Much, much, _much_ later. Like maybe…never?

Dumbledore shook his head, turning back to me as Snape finally sat back down, his own expression far more guarded now. "Where were we? Ah yes, I just wanted to ask you a few quick questions before Professor Snape takes you down to the Dungeons."

"The Dungeons?" I asked. I could see that there were beds down there, but they didn't need to know that. Why anyone had decided to put beds in dungeons was beyond me. It was like they _wanted_ their kids to be jerks.

"That is the location for the Slytherin dorm," Snape stated. "What are your intentions here, Hebert?"

I frowned, and centered my gaze on him, frowning deeper as he carefully avoided meeting my eyes. "I told you, I'm going to protect Daphne and Astoria. If I can learn about magic too while I'm here, that would be great."

"Ah," McGonagall said, setting her tea cup down. "Should I allow these two to continue on, we will get nowhere. They are attempting to discover if you are here scouting as an agent of the Dark Lord."

I blinked and snapped my head to her. "Well, I'm not. I had to deal with Nazis back home, I'm certainly not about to jump on the bandwagon for Wizard Nazis here. But you're just going to come right out and ask that?"

"I saw your wonder when you witnessed the Enchanted Ceiling for the first time. A Death Eater would not bother to fake something like that. I have been a teacher for a very long time, Miss Hebert. There are some things that you learn to pick up after several decades. Wonder is one of them. You are no double agent."

"Thanks," I smiled. "It's rare to see a teacher standing up for the people in their school."

"Hmm, it should not be. Regrettably, it is all too common these days. Even here." She fell silent staring into her tea mug.

Dumbledore clapped his hands, smiling wide. "Well, I am satisfied. I have not gotten to where I am by ignoring my minders! There is just one last thing, Miss Hebert." He waved his wand and the Sorting Hat flew down from the shelves, landing on his desk. I stared at it, resisting the urge to reach for the piece of animated fabric.

"I realize you are not a student here, yet, I find myself curious which House you would fit in best! And to be honest, it is a bit of a tradition that everyone who passes through the Great Hall gets sorted - if they are to stay in the castle longer than a week. Would you care to participate? It is entirely your choice of course."

I stared at the Hat. I _wanted_ it, if only to _touch_ it. It was a _talking hat_. "All I have to do is put it on my head right?"

"Indeed."

The word had barely left his mouth before I had snatched it off of the table and plopped the thing down onto the top of my head.

_Mmm, interesting. Interesting. I have not come across one such as you before, nor have I tried to sort a dual existence. What say you Taylor Hebert? Shall we give it a try?_

_Uh, sure?_

_Good show! Now, you're quite a bit older than I usually deal with so your basic tendencies are long since set. We shall have to first look at your motivations. What makes you_ you _. You enjoy learning, that's clear enough, and research and preparation are highly important to you. So Ravenclaw would be a good fit._

_I'm sensing a 'but'._

_Not really. Just that it's not the only thing you're suited to. You are cunning. Oh are you cunning. Not exactly_ ambitious _, yet you would run rings around your enemy just to convince them that they were your friend if it was advantageous to you._

_I don't think I'd go quite that far…_

_Oh but you would! It's all right here in your head! So yes, Slytherin would be an excellent fit as well. You're not really suited for Gryffindor. While you are,_ technically, _brave, I believe the more appropriate term is 'suicidal'. You should really sort that out child._

My cheeks burned and I clenched my fists. Fighting Lung had been stupid, but suicidal? I wasn't _that_ bad.

_Yes, you were. You're not that bad anymore, but you were. Either way, that is not really what being a Gryffindor entails and I am not a therapist. I am a hat, a smart hat, but a hat all the same._

_Yeah. Okay. Let's…please move on._

_Certainly Taylor Hebert! Finally we come to Hufflepuff. You are_ fiercely _loyal. Why from what I see here, you would burn the world to the ground to save your friends. Hufflepuffs value loyalty and hard work and you are willing to put in the effort to whatever you set your mind to. You my dear are, through and through, a_ "Hufflepuff!"

Dumbledore's smile was wide and his chuckle was belly-deep as he reached for the hat. The accessory twisted on my head and bent forward. "Did I say I was done, Albus? Keep your dirty hands off me until I'm finished!"

Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall all reared back in their seats as they stared at the hat. I just cocked my head as my ring heated up and the hat settled itself back onto my head again.

_Now, if you will excuse me Taylor Hebert. I have to confer with your…passenger for a time._

_You mean my power…right?_

_Well it says its name is Queen Administrator and that it is a 'shard' not a 'power' but, in essence, yes. Do keep me on your head, please._

… _Sure._

My power called itself 'Queen' Administrator. My power had an ego. Oh.

Well.

Well, okay then.

If I ever got back to Earth Bet, the scientists were going to _kill_ to be able to talk to me.

I was still trying to figure out how I felt about my power calling itself a Queen - and desperately ignoring how the other three were fidgeting in their seats - when fifteen minutes later, the hat abruptly roused and sat up straight on my head.

" _RAVENCLAW_! The ur example of a Ravenclaw if I have ever seen one!"

Dumbledore slowly reached out and took the hat from my head. As he placed it onto the table, the fabric bowed to me. "It's been an honor child. I doubt I will ever meet another like yourself. Go forth and do great things! Hogwarts believes in you!"

"…I'm…I'm just going to…go…"

Snape stood fast enough that his chair shot backwards. "I will take you down. Follow me."

As we headed to the door, I kept staring over my shoulder at the hat. It was…humming to itself. And my ring was still warm.


	6. New School 02

**New School 02**

We were nearly at the Dungeons and there had been no conversation the entire way. Snape was apparently a quiet man. Normally that would be perfectly fine for me. But Daphne had mentioned that he was her Head of House, so I would probably be seeing him more often than not. I sighed internally as we turned the last corner and cleared my throat.

"Not to overstep my bounds, Professor Snape, but I am new to this country. I don't know if American non-magicals have different types of products for their hair, but I've always had success in the past. I could loan you some of the things I use. It looks like you have a similar style to my father; he got amazing results when he switched companies."

 _Complete_ and _total_ lie. Didn't matter. As long as it got him to fix that monstrosity before I saw him again…

Snape stared down at me, his expression completely blank. "What?"

"…Never mind." It was worth a try. Maybe I could roll some of my bugs in something and then fix it for him while he slept - no, that was a bad idea. What was with me lately?

Stupid _awesome magical castle_ ; it was completely throwing me off. I should be staying quiet and unassuming. The Trio had taught me how to lay low. I didn't need to go and accidentally antagonize a teacher before I'd been here for a single night. This was going to end up like Lung all over again if I wasn't careful!

As we came to the bottom of the small staircase, Snape drew to a stop, seemingly waiting for me to acknowledge him. His theatrics were good, but not at cape levels. Maybe some of the effect was lost since I knew the Common Room was just behind the fake bricks. The question was where the latch or the lever was; those I hadn't been able to find yet.

"Hebert, you will be the first non-Slytherin in these rooms in centuries. Appreciate this honor."

"I am working for a Slytherin though," I replied, narrowing my eyes. There were theatrics and then there was being a bully. There was no need to attempt to grind me down just for _entering a room_. These people had magic. Congratu-fucking-lations. I had _superpowers_. Wizards were apparently a dime a dozen, but I was the _only_ parahuman here. I would hang back and stay quiet like Emma and Sophia had taught me, but I would _not_ let this become another Winslow.

I was in a _magic castle_. No one was going to take this away from me. I was going to get to gape and stare and maybe even squee. I was not going to be brought to heel on the _first day_.

This was not Winslow. This was a magic castle housing a magic school. And I was going to get to _enjoy_ it if it was the last thing I did.

"Yes, you do work for a Slytherin, that is why you are allowed in without complaint. You need to be aware, however, that because you are _not_ a Slytherin and we have our traditions, there will be dissenting voices. I do not coddle my House. If you cannot deal with upset children on your own, then you do not deserve your position."

The spiders weaving shirts in a nearby empty dungeon room picked up their pace tenfold.

This was _exactly_ like Winslow.

"I expect you to be able to handle this. I know Cyrus Greengrass; he and his family are no fools. Watch your charges well, Hebert."

The spiders slowed their pace again as I stared at the man. That was probably the most backhanded compliment I had ever gotten. "I will."

"Good. The password for the Common Room changes every fortnight, check the boards for updates. The first is 'unity'."

The word had barely left his lips when the bricks next to us pulled out of the expanse of wall, rotating outward. Oh. There was no lever, no latch, no hinges - just magic. I…should have expected that.

"Good night, Hebert."

"Good night, Professor Snape."

He didn't come inside with me, and the door shut as soon as I walked through. As I got a look around the Common Room with my actual eyes, I had to pause and just stare.

"Oh, _wow_."

Suddenly, being situated in the Dungeons made a lot more sense. Most of the far wall was completely taken over by giant windows that looked out onto the lake. There was the typical aquarium feel as fish swam past and seaweed waved in the lazy current. But then, further away, I could see something that looked like what you would get if a biotinker decided to merge a seahorse with an actual horse, plus another set of swimming things that were more like what I imagine a Japanese Kappa would look like, complete with fins on its hands and a bowl in its head. My bugs had told me there was a window and my power had latched onto crabs outside. I hadn't quite understood just what that _meant_ though until now.

"Oi! Hebert! Stop gawking and come sit down, girl. You gotta tell us what old Dumbles wanted!" With not insignificant effort, I tore my gaze away from the lake and made my way over to Daphne and her brown-haired friend who had called out to me. The brunette was still grinning widely as I dropped into an armchair next to them. "If you think the view is good now, just wait until the Giant Squid comes to say hello. The upper classes say we used to get merfolk too, but…eh, some people scared them away a few years back."

"Giant Squid?" I turned back to the window, frowning as I tried to pierce the gloom coming on with the setting sun.

"Oh yeah, if you're up on the shore, sometimes it'll play with you too. I've seen Macmillan throwing a ball back and forth and some of the older Ravenclaws have let it toss them around for some sweet dives in the warmer months. Not that we have many of those up here, but hey, there's like a three week period that you can go swimming!"

"Tracey, please, don't encourage playing with the Giant Squid, you know it just encourages the creature to splash the rest of us when we're innocently trying to do our homework outside," Daphne said, sighing.

I raised my eyebrows at them. "One of my friends back home had a few dogs. I could barely get them to play fetch with me. I would kill someone to have a chance to play fetch with a _squid_."

Daphne groaned. "Ugh, you both are impossible. I'll be staying a safe distance away, well outside of the splash zone."

"Don't mind, Daph, she's just jealous because she never gets to have fun anymore." Tracey leaned forward and clasped her hands over mine. "So, tell me, tell me, _how_ did you end up in England from across the Pond and _why_ are you working with _Daph_ of all people!?"

"Is there someone else I should be working with?" I asked.

The boy from the train - Draco Malfoy if I was remembering correctly - sauntered over at that moment and threw himself across an armchair across from us, letting his legs dangle over one arm while he laid against the other. "Well, I'm certain that my father could pay you better than whatever the Greengrasses are. We haven't had a retainer at Hogwarts for decades. That you're here now means a lot and it's a heavy status symbol. We could certainly bring you onboard and ensure that you receive appropriate compensation for that increase in status. Daphne's family is decent, but they aren't politically relevant anymore. My father is."

"I already have a job."

"We'd give you a better job."

Tracey dropped my hands and leaned back, crossing her arms as the smile fell from her face, leaving her with a mask of disinterest in its place. "Really? I find that surprising, Draco. From what I hear, your family has issues working with anyone not _pure_. Somehow I doubt that Taylor here would get a fair deal with dear old Lucius."

"My problems with you are entirely irrelevant, Davis." Malfoy pulled himself up enough that he could glare at Tracey before turning back to me with a large smile plastered back onto his face. Suddenly I understood why Rachel disliked people so much. If she saw all of us as this two-faced, her general annoyance made a lot more sense.

"Why do you even want to try to poach my bodyguard, Draco?" Daphne asked. She, unlike Tracey, was entirely relaxed, even the hint of a grin cresting. "In case you haven't noticed, she doesn't even have a wand."

"Which means that she's _really_ good with wandless magic of course," Malfoy said, waving his hand dismissively. "You wouldn't have hired her if she was useless. So what do you say, Hebert? Want a ticket to the high life?"

"I believe I already said that I _have_ a job, thanks," I said. "And to make things clear so that we get this out of the way right now instead of later, I'm a parahuman."

Malfoy's face clouded. He twisted, sitting up fully straight as several of the other students in the room perked up as well. None were very obvious about it, but every one of them had either an ear towards us or a wand held pointed towards the space between us. Could they use a form of listening magic? I would have to ask Daphne later. That would be useful information to know.

"And just what is a parahuman?"

I shrugged. "Someone from far away. There's not many of us around in this area; I'm probably the only one in Europe, let alone the country. I have very different strengths than you. Maybe one day, if you are incredibly unlucky, you'll get to experience them first hand."

Malfoy frowned, his eyes narrowing. "You're a _creature_. Like those Veela from last year."

"I have no idea what a Veela is, but if you mean that I have abilities you don't because I'm a parahuman, then you're correct. But if you think I'm some kind of animal, you are mistaken, I'm very much human, just…better." Everyone was definitely far more interested in our conversation now than they were in their own business. This was like the inverse of Winslow, now instead of being invisible, I was the primary point of interest. Maybe I could use this…

"Why would Greengrass hire a _creature_ instead of a _human_?" Malfoy shifted his gaze to Daphne. "Are you really that hard up now that you couldn't even afford a proper guard?"

"It's a bad idea to underestimate me, Draco," I said. Leaning back in my seat, I smiled and grabbed the mug of tea that had been set on the table. Daphne blushed just on the edge of my view as I took a sip, my smile widening. This was good tea. "The last person who underestimated me wound up in the hospital for a week trying to regrow his privates."

Not that I had meant to rot Lung's crotch off, but they didn't need to know that. If there was anything that Brian had drilled into me, it was reputation. I needed to look big and powerful to these people. They were not going to get a chance to ruin being around _actual magic_ by being bullies. Not this time. I wasn't going to become Emma or Sophia, but I _was_ going to be the scariest parahuman any of them had ever heard of.

It was only fair after all; I had to properly represent capes.

"That sounds like a load of shite," Malfoy said. He was far less confident this time though and he was pulling away from me as subtly as he could.

"I don't care what you do or don't believe. I've warned you not to mess with me, my charges - or if I make some here - my friends. That's all I was saying."

Twisting so I was looking at Daphne, I dropped out of the deadpan tone and grinned wide. "So, I keep meaning to ask! I need books on magical critters, Daphne. I saw some pretty interesting things while we were coming onto the grounds and I want to research them. And I heard your mom mentioning something about a bug that can make you fly after it stings you?! What the hell is that and where can I get one?!"

Daphne just stared at me while Tracey laughed. "Oh girl, if you think billywigs are cool, wait til I show you a moth that laughs as it flies!"

"No way…"

"Professor Hagrid has a bunch of them. When he gets back we can ask to see them."

Daphne grunted. "That man is insane. He's very sweet, but he has no understanding that his creatures can be dangerous."

"Oh come on, Daph, the guy is a huggable oaf. He's adorable."

"He's a menace," a dark-skinned boy chimed in from a couch a few feet away. I glanced over to him and he nodded to me. "Blaise Zabini, nice to meet you. And don't listen to Tracey. Hagrid has a whole menagerie that will kill you in a moment. The Professor _is_ very nice, but he's an idiot with proper safety for his XXXX and XXXXX creatures. It's not very surprising considering his heritage, though at least he tends to restrict it to just his collection of deadly animals."

"All of you are just jealous," Tracey said rolling her eyes. "Hagrid's creatures are cool!"

"He had an actual dragon in our first year, Davis," Draco scoffed. "I saw it with my own eyes. The longer the half-giant buffoon is gone the better for us all."

Blaise nodded. "Yes, I have to agree, Hagrid is not a good teacher. And who could forget those monstrosities he made last year. Who would ever think that breeding a manticore and a fire crab was a _good_ idea?"

"Fire crabs?" Ohhh, now that sounded useful indeed. I could control regular crabs without having to delve into the weirdness that was Trevor-the-Toad or the heat from my ring when I reached out to him. If I could get a colony of crabs that breathed fire…

"Yes," Daphne said. "Hagrid bred the giant crabs with another giant evil thing and got what he termed 'blast-ended skrewts'. They were so bad he had the Champions face off against the survivors last year. Ugly things too. Stingers on both ends, no mouths, yet they still managed to eat somehow, and shot fire out of their behinds…or their fronts, it was never clear…" She trailed off and shuddered.

I _definitely_ needed to find some of those…

* * *

The others started to talk about their summer activities, leaving me to smile and nod. Thankfully, I had far more interesting things to focus on, instead of pretending to be interested in this ball or that newspaper event.

Snape had gone back to talk to Dumbledore. Now _this_ should be fun to listen to!

"Albus, we need to discuss the child."

Oh really, Professor Snape? Do tell! We spoke less than I had talked with Lung, what sort of impression did you get of me, good sir?

"Indeed," Dumbledore said. He didn't sound nearly as jovial as when I had been in front of him. It was nice seeing behind the mask. Why hadn't I used this more back home? I could've gotten so much use out of spying! Why bother going out in the field when you can gather information - then attack from a distance if needed.

Why _had_ I constantly jumped to being in the fray before? Something to add to the list of mysteries.

"What did you see? What happened with your Legilimency, Albus? I have never heard of a reaction like that."

Hmm, what was that?

Down in the Common Room as Tracey grilled Blaise about something concerning skiing, I leaned over to whisper to Daphne, "Hey, what's Legilimency?"

She frowned and glanced at me. "Surface mind reading. It requires continual eye contact. Skilled users can delve deeper. Why?"

"Apparently I got mind read; and it didn't go well for the reader." I leaned back, narrowing my eyes. That was a _huge_ invasion of privacy; served him right for getting a nosebleed from the attempt.

"Severus, have you ever attempted to read someone with dual personalities?"

The professor sat down. "Yes, it was a supremely unpleasant experience and I was unable to keep contact for longer than ten seconds. Seeing through two perspectives at once was…heavily disconcerting."

Dumbledore chuckled though there was no mirth in it. "Imagine that experience, multiplied a thousand, thousand times and you will begin to approach what Miss Hebert's mind is like."

Snape raised an eyebrow. "You mean to suggest that she has thousands of personalities?"

"Oh no, not at all. I'm saying that it is merely a good approximation, my friend. She can see through millions of perspectives at once, all in wildly different areas. I only caught a glimpse and I could not begin to understand what I saw and it nearly overwhelmed me. But judging by the impression, I would not be surprised if she could see the entirety of the castle from anywhere within our bounds."

"That is…"

"There is more, Severus." Dumbledore's exhalation was long and tired. "She _is_ a dual-existence. The Sorting Hat was proof enough of that."

"So that was your intention," Snape sneered. "I had suspected, but Albus, that is a perversion of the magic of Hogwarts. I may not agree with many of your policies or decisions, but I respect them. With this, I fully agree with Minerva on this."

Dumbledore sat up straight and he twisted to - presumably- glare at Snape. "That was _not_ my intention. I stand by tradition and I was merely curious what House she fit in best, the same as everyone else who passes through these halls. I no more expected the reaction from the Hat than you did."

"…Very well, I will trust you, as I have in the past." He sighed and took a moment to collect his thoughts. "Now, what do you mean by dual-existence?"

"The impression I received of her vision was minimal, barely a second. Almost immediately I was shunted to a far different perspective. It was…the only appropriate word is 'vast'. I could not comprehend what I saw."

"Then -"

"I was _allowed_ to see, Severus. It was ancient, colossal, but above all curious. It let me gain an impression of its age. Then it thrust me out with a single word that cut through me, shaking me to my core. **No**."

Both men fell silent while I sank deeper into my armchair. So…apparently my power didn't like me being mind-read either…That was…sweet?

"So…she is not just a girl then."

"I don't doubt that she is what she appears to be, Severus. A polite, determined child trying to complete a job. A girl contracted by a very smart man who was concerned for his children and recognized a golden opportunity. Yet, she is also the vessel of something dangerous in its curiosity. Something that does not belong in our world."

"I don't understand, Albus."

"There are things that the Department of Mysteries investigated, doorways to other places, portals between worlds. I believe she is telling the truth about being a parahuman, despite no one having ever heard of such a race. I simply don't believe that 'parahumans' occur naturally on our world. This secondary being behind her eyes, the observer, I will have to reach out to old colleagues to start assembling the puzzle. For this to drop into my school now, just as Voldemort regains his power…There must be a deeper reason for it. And even if there isn't, we both know that I don't like to let mysteries lie dormant. I want to discover more about the observer. Perhaps…perhaps it could help in our problem…"

"So, what do we do _now_ , Albus?"

"Nothing for the moment. I will contact the Department of Mysteries and my old friends. As for Miss Hebert, let her do her job. Do not anger the observer. She is not here to support Voldemort and the observer likely won't care to act beyond its natural curiosity. We have our own battle to fight. She can protect her charges, and we will fight our war, protecting Harry Potter until the proper time comes. Once I have enough information to determine more about her situation and the being she is linked to, then I will approach her."

I sank deeper into the chair, swallowing hard. That man was…intelligent. Very intelligent and very dangerous. He figured out more about me and my power in five minutes than most of our scientists had in decades. And…just what _was_ my power? What was I connected to?

"Hey, Taylor, can you tell us about MACUSA? I've heard they're rather a shite example of a government."

I shook my head and tried to chuckle as I looked at Tracey. "I don't really know much. My dad and I weren't involved with the government at all. He was a, uh, Union leader."

"Isn't that political?"

"…I didn't really get involved with his work. He was always busy and I just was…left to…do my own thing. Tell me about the Ministry?"

Tracey started to talk and I leaned back, continuing to smile politely.

What the _hell_ were our superpowers?


	7. New Class 01

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Some there is a tiny bit lost in translation in this version compared to the SB one. The parts where the students are whispering while in the class far away from Taylor are meant to be smaller font. Ao3 doesn't really let me do that sort of formatting unfortunately.

**New Class 01**

My eyes were wide as I stared at the catalog in front of me. An ear-to-ear grin was plastered all over my face. I couldn't help the maniacal little chuckle that bubbled forth either. I didn't want to.

The critters here, oh _boy_! I could have ruled Brockton Bay in under a week! I could've driven out the Nazis, the Merchants, hell I could've gone after Lung with impunity and _not_ barely escaping being charbroiled!

I cackled again.

"Will you stop laughing like an evil madwoman please? It's disturbing," Daphne commented, looking over her shoulder to eye me.

Tracey snorted. "That's what's disturbing you? Not that she can follow us with that guidebook held in front of her nose, huh? That's better than Granger - I'm pretty sure _she_ at least hit a wall or two. What sort of freaky senses do you have, Taylor? You haven't missed a single turn or glanced up from that thing once."

"I'm good with spatial awareness," I commented. I flipped the page and had to actually bite my tongue to avoid laughing _again_. We walked into the Entrance Hall and I had Trevor pull himself up to a sitting position so I could better see the area that Daphne and Tracey were leading us towards without having to shift yet more bugs around. He was _just_ so _useful_ ; what would the _rest_ of these guys bring?! "Daphne, can I mail order [doxies](https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Doxy)?!"

She stopped mid-step, her neck nearly creaking as she turned to look at me. Several of the other nearby students also looked up from their plates, forks halfway to their mouths. "What?"

I just stopped behind her and flipped another page. "How about a [vampyr mosp](https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Vampyr_Mosp)? Oooh, we _need_ to get some [redback spiders](https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Redback_spider) and [cocoon spiders](https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Cocoon_Spider)!" I was probably drooling; I didn't care.

"Taylor."

"The [glumbubble](https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Glumbumble) could be interesting too. Oh, and someone said that Hagrid had [flitterbies](https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Flitterby) right?! I wonder if he took them with him on his trip."

"Oh my god, she's serious. Daphne, she's serious. Why is she serious?" Tracey had lost most of the teasing lilt and had taken to staring at me with wide eyes and a slightly open mouth.

Trevor croaked a quiet laugh at her antics. I breathed a quiet sigh when the movement drew Neville's attention to the small, now-jingling, bell on his neck, and the Gryffindor boy picked up the toad, robbing me of my view. Trevor was happy about it though so I let his consciousness drift away from me. I made one final circle in the catalog, then looking up with my own eyes, I held it out to Daphne.

"I marked everything I want! Please, please send a message to your dad. Soon!"

She took the catalog, the bare minimum of fingers touching it as she swallowed and flipped through a few of the pages. Daphne stopped on one of them, the booklet dropping to her side as she held my gaze. "You have [fire crabs](https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Fire_Crab) circled."

"Did you _see_ those critters?! They grow so big! It's like a giant tortoise, but a crustacean! And it can _shoot fire_! And its shell is so pretty!"

"You need a special license to even inquire about one." She glanced down at my notes, grimacing and shuddering. "I'll…talk to Father."

"You're the best." I flashed her my best smile. I was a bit out of practice with it since, well, _Emma_ , but I was fairly sure I still hit all of the right beats. Daphne's rosy cheeks were indication enough that I was on the right track.

As we sat down at the table a moment later, Blaise angled his fork across the table towards me. "So, Hebert, I couldn't help overhearing. What do you want with all of those pests? You're not planning a prank or anything are you? I mean, importing doxies is pretty extreme. Especially considering that there has to be a decent sized nest somewhere here in the castle anyway."

"Really?" I asked, my eyes as wide as saucers and my pancakes forgotten. How had I missed them?! Was it like with Trevor where I needed to find the magic critters first and let my passenger warm up to them through the ring? Ohhh I needed to explore. I _needed_ to find these things! The breeding rates alone…I would have my own army in weeks!

"I mean, they're a menace; evil little things that get everywhere. Muggles have rats, we have doxies. Unless Peeves clears them out on his own I'm sure the horrible little shits are hiding somewhere."

One of the upper years grunted. "Certainly enough unused classrooms these days. Me dad's talked about the old days when you couldn't go two steps in Hogwarts without tripping over someone; now the corridors are almost always empty."

That did bring my mood down a bit and took another look around the Great Hall. These tables were awfully large for such a small group of people…"What happened?"

The larger boy shrugged. "First time the Dark Lord started his war lots of people died. Grindelwald before him was worse. If there's a war this time too there might not be enough people left for a full class the next go round."

My good mood soured a bit at that. Still, a few wars…that wasn't really anything compared to the Endbringers. We lost hundreds of capes and tens of thousands of civilians every few _months_. These people just lost a few families every few decades and it put a noticeable dent in their numbers? Just how small was the magical population here?

I narrowed my eyes and speared my pancake. This was stupid. These people killed each other off for nothing. We had to deal with monsters that were slowly destroying the _world_. They had petty squabbles and it wiped them out? Idiots.

"Hey, are you okay?" Daphne murmured, poking my side with her elbow.

I shook my head. "It's nothing. I'm just realizing that I'm apparently more callous than I had realized."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I don't get to claim the moral high ground." Alec would probably laugh at that admission and Lisa would just pat my back and say that everyone came to understand that sooner or later.

I still thought of them. I had barely even known them. Yet I had been intending to _betray_ them.

Damn…I would never have actually followed through with that, would I?

I had gone native. I had barely been with them for 3 weeks and I had thrown my lot in with the villains. But was it all that surprising? They had been good to me. They had been my friends. My only real experience with the Heroes was Armsmaster being a dick, Shadow Stalker immediately taking Emma's side, and…they all collectively let Brockton Bay slide into being the worst city in America. A city run by gangs, where every third person you passed on the street was probably part of one of the gangs.

The Heroes hadn't done anything. They had been worse then incompetent. They had been _malicious_. And everything had gone to crap under their watch.

Only the Villains had gotten results. Unfavorable results, but still, results.

"Taylor?"

If it were me in charge, I could prevent all this…

"I should take over Britain. You can't all keep killing yourselves off every few years if you have someone standing at the top to smack your nose if you start being idiots again."

"I love this girl! Crazy pets with a side of world domination!" Tracey crooned. She looped an arm around my shoulder and laughed. "Daph, I don't know where your family found her, but she's _awesome_!"

I just speared more pancakes, letting them keep the delusional idea that I was joking.

* * *

After breakfast finished I left Daphne to her own devices and fell into step with Astoria as she walked to class. The younger Greengrass sister glanced at me, shrugged and kept talking to her friends. Luna was actually the first one to say anything when she started skipping along next to me.

"Good morning, Taylor. Have you been thinking of world domination this morning?"

I nearly missed a step as I jerked around to stare at the girl. "Why would you ask something like that, Luna?" And how good are your ears?

She shrugged, lifting a finger to point just over my head. "You have heiress humphreys hovering over you today. Daddy always said that people with heiress humphreys have great ambitions." I just lifted an eyebrow. She smiled and nodded back towards the Great Hall. "Also, I heard you talking to Astoria's sister. It's nice that a Slytherin isn't mumbling at meals for once. I sit so close to them, but it's always _so hard_ to hear their conversations."

I snorted. "You're rather more sneaky than people give you credit for I bet."

"Oh yes. It makes things so much more…interesting!"

"Don't listen to her, Taylor," Astoria said. She stuck out her tongue at Luna and Luna just chuckled. "Luna here just likes to hear what sort of pranks the Slytherins have planned."

"That too. My day is usually much easier if I know who Marietta has reached out to in the morning. The poppies by themselves aren't always enough to figure it out."

The last bit of cheer from my discovery of the _many_ possible expansions to my bugs died a fiery death.

"Luna, I love you, but we'd get so much further in these talks if you would actually make sense," Astoria said, laughing.

I had heard a 'Marietta' talking last night when I scanned the Ravenclaw dorms. She was two years above Luna and Astoria. Well, that would make this easier; I wouldn't feel guilty for hurting a girl harassing someone that much younger than her.

There was something seriously wrong with me.

"Luna, have you heard of the flickering fireflies?" I asked. The classroom door was in sight, but there was enough time before we got there. Luna shook her head as she looked at me. "Where I come from, they say that there are special fireflies, ones that only appear to people looking to hide or run away."

"Oh, that's interesting. I haven't heard of that variety. I wonder if father has."

"You should ask him. From what I remember, I think they were supposed to lead those people to safety."

"Hmm, I will do that. I'll also have to keep a lookout for them from now on."

Astoria had slowed her pace, letting her friends take over their conversation. She eyed me, then glanced at Luna. I held a finger to my lips while the others pulled ahead of us and filed into the classroom. She glanced at Luna's back one last time, then sucked in a breath and mouthed 'Marietta' to me. I nodded once and held out my hand for her to head inside the room. Astoria scowled, though she quickly wiped it from her face and replaced it with a cheery grin.

The girl was almost as good as her sister at acting.

* * *

The diminutive instructor for Charms was fantastic. If we had had more teachers like him at Winslow I might have actually enjoyed school. He was like a hyperactive puppy and he lavished praise on anyone who deserved it while completely ignoring the people who slacked off. It was really a breath of fresh air to see a teacher who could _teach_.

"Now that we have finished the initial material for this first class, I would like to review a few topics from previous years. Since this is the first class of the year, we might as well all go through some of the basics to make certain that we haven't lost our touch over the summer!"

One of the Ravenclaws raised their hand, frowning. "Professor, we've never done that before."

Flitwick grinned wider. "Indeed we haven't. The reasoning is twofold. Can anyone figure it out?"

"We're Fourth Years now so we have a lot more things that we need to remember since the work gets harder this year?" a Hufflepuff girl said.

"That's a well reasoned answer, Miss Hestridge. Five points to Hufflepuff! Does anyone else know the second reason?"

Someone shouted, "We have exams this year so we have to be ready."

Most of the blue-trimmed students groaned at that as did several of the yellow-trimmed kids. Flitwick just sighed. "While I appreciate the enthusiasm, Mr. Brody, your O.W.L.s are _next_ year. Anyone else."

Luna raised her hand. When Flitwick signaled her she said, "Because we have a guest and you want us to show off for her."

A sea of heads turned to me. I swallowed and tightened my tie, the bugs I had working down in the dungeons twitched and started weaving their shirts a little bit faster. "You don't have to do that, Professor."

Some of the students on the far side of the room frowned, leaning forward and narrowing their eyes. One of the guys elbowed his friend and whispered to his friend.

"Hey, why does Astoria's bodyguard have such a high-pitched voice? Bloke sounds like a girl."

"I think that _is_ a girl."

"No way. He's wearing a suit!"

I sent a fly to bite the ears of the little jerks and sped up production of my spider-silk shirts even more. Just because I didn't have _large breasts_ didn't mean I couldn't wear a _suit_. Asshole.

"Now, now, Miss Hebert, no need to be modest. I understand that your background in wanded magic is patchy, so let's show you a bit of a primer in the Charms direction!" Flitwick said, he jumped off his stool and strode to the center of the room, raising his wand.

"See! I _told_ you she was a girl!"

"Ow! Stupid bugs. Fine, fine you were right. Now help me with the repelling charm!" the jerk whispered back.

Flitwick meanwhile had started to wave his wand as in the air and a feather lifted up before him. "Let's all start with _Wingardium Leviosa_ and move up from there."

There were a few groans, though the class quickly performed the spell.

Jeez, 14-year-olds that could essentially perform telekinesis…magic was awesome!

"Why isn't the repelling charm working?!"

Magic apparently wasn't able to stop my bugs though, which brought me to an internal chuckle.

"Maybe you did it wrong? I'll check the book again. It's supposed to work on all mindless insects!"

Too bad that little fly _wasn't_ mindless then huh? Maybe think twice about mistaking a girl for a guy again, jerk. I did, however reluctantly, call the fly back as I turned more attention to Flitwick. There was no need to be _mean_ about it. I got my nip in, I was mostly satisfied.

"Yes, Miss Hebert?"

"I can do the levitation trick too." I stared at a feather near Flitwick and jerked my head up towards the ceiling, while keeping my hands folding on the table in front of me. The feather leaped up, dragged by the loops of spider silk I had threaded around the edges of it. A bit of careful manipulation and the feather did a nice little dance in the air before I lowered it back down and cut the cords. I also set two flies to go and get the loops off of the feather itself once the class's attention was back on me.

The class as a whole had wide, round eyes as they stared at me, a few holding their breath. I frowned and glanced towards Astoria. "What did I do?"

"I believe they are just impressed with your wandless and nonverbal casting, Miss Hebert," Flitwick said. He was still smiling, though he also winked at me, his gaze briefly drifting to the ceiling.

I couldn't help a small answering grin and a slight nod back. Smart man, Professor. Don't be distracted by the curtain, watch the trick itself. Smart man.

"Now, let's move onto the next Charm! Miss Hebert, I don't think you will be able to replicate this one quite as easily, but let's see shall we?"

Challenge accepted, Professor.


End file.
